


The Lucky Start

by GarbledWarbles



Category: The Wandering Inn - pirateaba
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-05-02 06:43:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19193770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GarbledWarbles/pseuds/GarbledWarbles
Summary: A group is brought into the Innworld and get an unusually lucky start.





	1. New Beginning

Chapter 1

Greg was sure this wasn't his living room. It was odd that this wasn't his living room as that was generally where the door from his bedroom led. Furthermore, he was pretty sure he didn't have any guests over, but four other people were in this not living room. They were looking around with what appeared to be the same confusion that he felt. "Um," he eloquated and continued to study the place he was in. The walls were stone, and the room was dimly lit by lights that emitted an odd glow that didn't match any light bulb had ever seen, the seemed to be made of light rather than issuing it. There were several bookshelves on the far end of the room a few couches and tables closer to him. 

“Who brought me here? You have to let me go!” 

A young woman to his began to pace with obviously rising panic. She ran to the door behind him and ran through it. He followed her through and was surprised yet again when he didn't find his bedroom and instead found what appeared to be a large old fashion kitchen and eating area with many tables filling most of the room. He shouldn't have been surprised about the missing bedroom as the door had apparently teleported him to this place once and he only belatedly noticed that the door was no longer his door. It appeared this place no longer had anything to do with his house. It didn't feel like he had been drugged or anything so he wasn't sure how he had ended up here or where here was. Maybe he really had been teleported as if that was possible. The woman was running around the kitchen, opening cupboard doors getting more and more frantic. 

“Where are we? what is this place?” she practically yelled. 

The other three strangers had followed them through the door, and one young man placed his hands on her shoulders as she tried to pass him. 

"Calm down," he said, "we can't." 

She abruptly brushed his hands off of her 

“don’t you touch me, I don’t know you, what did you do to me!” 

He raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"Hey! I didn't do this, I'm just as confused as you, but I think we need to calm down and try to figure out what's going on. Can I assume none of you know what's going on or that any of you are responsible for this?" 

He looked around and got shrugs from Greg and the other man and woman in the room. Greg gestured to the nearest table and took a seat. The others followed, and the girl who had been running about the place sighed and took one last look around before joining them. 

“So I was definitely in my house about a minute ago I’m almost positive, and I don’t feel like I’ve gone crazy. Do you know if you’ve gone crazy?” Greg asked. “My name’s Greg by the way.” 

Sitting to his right was a huge guy, he was at least six and a half feet tall and had shoulders about as wide as the doorway chimed in. 

"I'm Joel, and if you're crazy, I guess that we've all gone crazy, but it doesn't seem likely that we've all gone the same kind of crazy. Not that any of this seems likely. I was working out, then I blink, and I'm standing in a room looking at all of you."  
To his right sat his opposite, she was a tiny woman, likely less than five feet tall and looked even smaller at the table as she sat hunched over. She didn’t look up as she talked. 

"I'm Kelly." 

That’s all she said then promptly tried to sink into herself. To her right, now seeming to calm down a bit. 

"I'm Jesse. This isn't possible, right? I was driving to work then all of the sudden I'm sitting in a chair in a room I've never seen with people I've never seen. Where are we? I was on the highway! Did my car just plow into something while I was transported here? Did I crash and die? This doesn't seem like heaven. Did we all die and come here?" 

She was starting to get worked up again. To Greg's left, a shorter, somewhat pudgy guy cut in. 

“I’m Matt, I’m fairly positive we didn’t die. I was just sitting and watching TV. I don’t know how I would have died doing that.” 

Greg looked around the table. 

"So none of us know anything about how we got here or where we are. Maybe we should look around, maybe look outside. Weirdly, there are no windows." 

He had just noticed that there were no windows in either of the rooms they had been in after mentioning going outside. They walked back into the room with the bookshelves and started to split up to go to all four doors in that room. 

“Should we split up?” 

Kelly’s eyes were still firmly on the floor when she spoke. 

“You can come with me.” 

Jesse put her arm around Kelly's shoulder as they walked through the door by the bookshelves. Greg took the door on the opposite side of the room, and Joel followed behind him. He was greeted with a long hallway, still dimly lit with doors on either side. He opened the first he came to and saw that it was a bedroom. It also had stone floors, walls, and ceiling, there was a window curtain on the far wall, a fairly ornate dresser, a desk, and a canopy bed. He walked across the room and opened the curtain to be greeted by a recessed window frame that rather than having a view was just more stone wall. 

"Well, that's just weird." 

Greg gave Joel a quizzical look. Joel just shrugged and grunted as he opened the dresser. Greg saw that there were clothes in the dresser as Joel pulled out one garment. As it unfolded, Greg saw that it was a robe, like something a medieval noble would wear or maybe someone doing a wizard cosplay. 

“Maybe someone likes to dress up like a D&D character?” 

Greg just shrugged which seemed to be contagious at the moment. They left the room and began progressing down the hallway. They were all bedrooms on each side of the hall. Ten in total. They were all pretty much the same. Mostly square, stone, slight variations in the furniture, and each had a window that was just a blank wall. At the end of the hallway, there was a staircase leading up. The followed the stairs and found an identical hall with more rooms. They took another flight up and saw more of the same with five floors in total. After checking a few more rooms, Greg and Joel walked back to what Greg was going to consider the library. When they got back, Kelly and Jesse were already there. 

“What did you find?” 

"Just a huge room, like, seriously huge. It seemed like the ceiling was fifty feet high, and it's probably more than a football field across." 

“Really?” 

Joel opened the door the girls had walked through. He just whistled and came back to the table. 

“Yeah, that’s a big room.” 

Greg and Joel recounted what they had found with the bedrooms. After a few minutes, Matt returned. 

"Hey man, what did you find?" Greg asked. 

"There's a pretty big room with couches, a few tables, and stuff like that. There's another door that has a staircase which I went up, lots of steps by the way. There's a door after a while, but I think it's jammed. It moves a bit, but I couldn't get it to open all the way." 

He looked Joel over.

“Maybe you can help?” 

Joel agreed, and after some silent communication, everyone else followed. There was, indeed a lot of steps, but eventually, they got to the door. Matt and Greg gave the handle a tug which created a bit of a gap between the door and the frame. Joel was able to get his mitts through the gap and grunted as he pulled the door. There was some screeching then a loud snap and the door came free and flew open. As they walked through, they found a hallway with a door on the right and another straight ahead. Greg opened that door as everyone else poked around the room and was delighted to see sunlight. 

“Nice! At least we found the exit, I was worried we were never going to see the sun again.” 

He turned around and found he was looking at just some rock that made up the side of a vertical rock wall going up about twenty feet. 

“Not again,” he moaned, “I really am going crazy.” 

He had apparently been transported again. 

“What?” 

He heard Jesse from within the rock then saw her walk through what had appeared to be solid stone. He pointed at the wall after Jesse appeared and Kelly was midway through emerging. 

“Woah,” 

Jesse reached out her hand to feel the wall, and her hand went right through the rock and must have hit Matt as he exclaimed and was holding a hand over his eye when he appeared. 

"So is that a hologram or something? I didn't think they were that good. I saw one at an exhibit a few years ago, and it was nowhere near this good". 

"I've never seen one this good, you'd think we'd have heard about it if somebody was making one this realistic." 

Kelly waved her hand through the fake wall. 

“It could be magic?” 

"The problem there is that magic isn't a thing." 

Jesse replied, rolling her eyes. 

"There must be an explanation for everything that would make sense," Joel agreed. "Maybe we're a part of some psychological experiment or something." 

The group looked around, but all they saw was a forest going down a hill leading away from their hidden door leading to a small pond a couple hundred yards away. Looking farther away there was either a large creek or a small river on the far side of some flat grassland. Other than that, there was nobody in sight. It was odd, somebody went to a whole lot of trouble to get them here, put them in an underground bunker, and hide the door with the best hologram he'd ever seen. 

“There must be some reason we’ve been brought here, and there must be someone who did it. Why haven’t they talked to us?” 

The group all shrugged. 

“Should we look around? I’m worried we won’t be able to find our way back. I mean I’m not sure I’ll be able to find this particular part of this cliff if I walk ten feet away from it.” 

"I can stay behind. I want to keep looking around this place, it's huge, and I saw a door in the storage room we haven't looked through." 

Kelly looked around and grabbed a stick about as tall with a slightly pointy end and wrapped her jacket around it. She then planted the stick into the ground near where the door was. 

“Thanks! Good idea! Want to start going that way?” 

Greg pointed in the direction that would be going down the hill with the cliff to their left. 

"I think I'll stay behind too. I'm getting hungry, and I saw some food down in the kitchen when I was looking around it earlier." 

Jesse turned to follow Kelly as the three guys set off on their exploration, keeping the only landmark they know to their left. They walked past the pond seeing nothing special there. They continued to see nothing special as they moved along, just more forest, rocks, trees, the occasional squirrel. They made it to the river until they noticed that the sun was starting to set. 

“So we’ve been walking for a couple of hours,” Greg said somewhat dejectedly, “I haven’t seen any sign of civilization or any sign of another person for that matter.” 

Joel sighed.

"Yeah, I've got nothing, and it's starting to get dark. Think we should head back?" 

They all agreed and turned around. The group recovered their tracks and were almost back to their destination by the time the sun was low on the horizon. Greg saw the pond in the distance which he was glad about as he was starving. They really should have followed Jesse and grabbed a bite before they left. He was focusing on what he most wanted to eat when he heard a rustle in a bush nearby. He was about to call out when suddenly some animal came bursting out of the brush. It was hard to see it in the dark, but from what he saw, it reminded him of a mountain lion only he could swear that this particular animal had an extra set of legs. 

“Run!” 

He yelled and didn't hesitate to follow his own advice. The three of them took off at once. They were within a few yards of the stick marking the door when Greg heard Matt scream and fall and a terrifying growl. He turned to look, and to his horror, he saw Matt on the ground with whatever that beast was tearing into his leg. Matt was screaming in a way Greg had never heard another man scream, and it shook him to the bone. Greg grabbed the stick, pointing out of the ground and charged in to help his companion. The beast took no notice when he approached as it savaged Matt. He stabbed the stick into the six-legged cougar's side, and it roared and took a swipe at him. Greg's mind froze as his leg erupted in pain. He fell to the ground, and all he could focus on was the flesh of his leg split apart where that thing had clawed him. Suddenly Joel was over him. 

“Greg, are you alright? Oh man, this is bad. Can you get up? I need to carry Matt. He’s in bad shape, this is so bad. We need to get inside before that thing comes back.” 

Joel heaved Greg into a standing position, and Greg stood on his one good leg still nearly blinded by the pain in his leg. Joel picked up Matt cradling him and let Greg lean on him as they hobbled back to the wall. Greg started pushing against the rock, trying to find where the door would be. He kept pushing against the rock until suddenly his arm sank into the wall and he fell forward. Greg was still on the ground as Joel busted into the room behind him, yelling for someone to help him. He sat Matt on a bench that was near the doorway turned around and slammed the door shut. He ran back to Matt, and by that time, Greg had managed to get back to standing on one leg. They both looked down at Matt, and finally, Greg was able to take in the damage. Matt had deep cuts and bites on both legs, and it looked like his stomach had been cut open. 

"Oh man, what do we do!" Joel yelled. 

Mat's eyes were open, and he was moving a bit, but it looked like they may lose him in moments. By that time, Kelly, who had been in the room next to the entrance, came out to see what the commotion was. She took a look at the three of them, saw they were all covered in blood and ran over, eyes wide. 

“Can you do anything? Do you know first aid or something?” Joel pleaded. 

Kelly just looked up wide-eyed and shook her head. Suddenly she ran back into the storage room next to the entrance and began rummaging around the various boxes. Seconds later she came back out carrying a jar of some kind of liquid. 

“I don’t know if this will do anything or even if this is how it works if it does work, but it’s worth a try.” 

She began to pour the liquid over Matt’s stomach and legs. 

“What is that? What are you doing?” 

Joel moved to intervene. 

"I said I don't know," she said, refusing to meet Joel's eyes. 

“You’re just pouring that stuff on him? What is it? Why would that help! He needs first aid! He needs a hospital!” 

"We don't have any of that, and the box this was in said it was healing potion," she replied, backing away from Joel. 

"Healing potion! What are you talking about? There is no such thing as a healing potion. There is no such thing as magic!" 

Joel had fully rounded on Kelly now. He needed a place to send his fear and anger, and the little girl who believed magic would help them was where it landed. Kelly had backed up into the corner now and wouldn't look up. Greg turned around and put a hand on Joel's shoulder to try to calm him down when he was surprised by a gasp from Matt. He turned back around to look at Matt and to his astonishment, he saw the massive wound in Matt's stomach begin to shrink. The cuts in his legs were already nearly closed. 

"Impossible," Joel whispered. 

Greg just looked down dumbfounded. Kelly had crept away from the corner and was peering around Joel looking wide-eyed at Matt. His stomach was now mostly healed, but now the healing seemed like it was slowing down. 

"Maybe he should drink it?" Joel asked, looking at Kelly. 

"I don't know, we can try it," she replied and handed the bottle to Joel. 

He took the bottle and turned to Matt. 

"Matt, can you try drinking this?" 

He put the bottle to Matt’s lips. Matt, now seeming much more aware was able to take a swig of the liquid. He immediately started coughing and grimaced. 

"Oh, that's terrible." 

He coughed and sputtered, but it seems like drinking it did work as his wound began closing again. 

“Here, take this and drink some.” 

He handed the bottle to Greg. Greg took notice of Matt's reaction to the potion and decided that he would just pour it on his wounds. Once he did, he felt a cooling sensation and marveled as the pain and injuries rapidly subsided. Soon it was as if nothing had ever happened if only a phantom of the pain he had been feeling. By this time, Matt was sitting up, poking around on his stomach. He looked up, and a grin spread across his face. 

“So that was amazing! I thought I was dead then I’m fine in two minutes!” 

Joel was still dumbfounded. 

"Does that mean magic is real? Are you really alright, Matt? Greg?" 

"I'm fine," Matt replied, "but I am starving." 

“Agreed” Greg chimed in. 

He stood up and tested the weight on his leg. It was genuinely amazing like nothing had ever happened. He helped Matt off of the table, and he did seem to wobble a bit. 

“Are you sure you’re alright man? 

"Yeah, just really hungry and I feel weak, like just ran a marathon." 

Joel offered a shoulder to lean on, and the group began to make their way down the stairs. They made their way into the kitchen, and just as they were getting seated, Jesse walked through the door. 

"Hey guys, so I found another door off of that big room. There's another hallway with all kinds of weird rooms off of it. There's what seems to be a blacksmith room or something, I don't know there's anvils and a big oven type thing, so that's what I'm guessing. There are a few other rooms, but I can't even guess what they are, and WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED!" 

She cut herself off as she looked up and saw that the three guys in the room were covered in blood. They began recounting the story of what happened with the attack. 

“So we need to worry about animal attacks here? Did you see what kind it was? Maybe that could tell us where we are?” 

“I don’t think that’s going to help,” Greg said, “I’m starting to think we’re not anywhere on earth.” 

“W-Wait what?” Jesse stammered. 

“Have you ever heard of a lion with six legs?” 

“There aren’t any lions with six legs, what are you talking about?” 

"Well this one did, but that's not the craziest part of the story. Anyway, this six-legged lion comes out of the bush and charges us. We tried to make it back to the door, but it caught us just as we got there. It got to Matt and had him pinned down. It started to tear into him, but I managed to stab it with a stick. It took a swipe at me, but I must have managed to poke it hard enough as it must have run off, I don't know I didn't see that part." 

"About that man," Matt interjected "I owe you my life, man. That thing had me split open, I thought I was going to be eaten to death by a giant monster, and you ran at the thing." 

"Wait, split open? It can't be that bad your sitting here, and you don't seem to be in any pain." 

"That's the second part of why I don't think we're on earth anymore," Greg said. "Apparently magic is real here." 

“Magic? What do you mean? How can magic be real?” 

"Kelly found a box that said it was full of healing potions we poured it on our wounds, and a minute later we're both up and moving." 

“That’s ridiculous, there is no such thing as magic.”

“I'd have agreed about ten minutes ago, but we all saw it with our own eyes. Here, watch, Kelly, can you hand me that potion. Jesse, did you find a knife down here?" 

Kelly handed Greg the potion, and Jesse went into the kitchen and brought back a knife. Greg paused for a second, then nicked himself on the back of his hand. He showed the cut to Jesse the poured a drop of the potion on the wound. Within seconds he wiped away the blood and showed Jesse his completely cut free hand. 

“That’s amazing!”

"I know right," Matt said. "It does seem to make you pretty hungry, though. Did you find any food down here? 

At that, Jesse's eyes lit up. 

"So much food, you could feed an army down here. There's a walk-in pantry through that door over there with a bunch of grains, bread, and produce and other stuff, and there’s a trap door over there in the corner of the kitchen that leads to a cellar with so much meat and wine and beer! I’ll tell you what, you guys look beat let me pour you each a beer and I’ll fix you something.”

“You sure you don’t need any help?” Joel asked.

“I got this, you’re talking to a chef at the fine dining establishment known as Applebees.”

Soon everyone had a surprisingly cold beverage in front of them, and Jesse was banging around in the kitchen. 

“So you were saying there are some other rooms down here we didn’t see on our first pass?”

"Yea, like I said there's the pantry and the cellar in here. They're pretty big, and they've got some weird symbols all over the walls and floor. Also, like I was saying there are several rooms off of that big room, one looks a bit like an old fashion blacksmith. Another room looks like a science lab and a couple more that I don't even have guesses for. There's also another big room full of shelves that are full of stuff." 

The more he considered this place, the more Greg thought everything about it was odd. It was clearly a hidden bunker, it had fifty beds, it was well stocked with food and other living accommodations, and workshops set up for many people. This place was set up to house and employ many more than the five people that were here. They had also seen no evidence of anyone else whatsoever, and none of them had any idea how they got there. He scrubbed his face with both hands in frustration. This place made no sense. 

“This place makes no sense!”

That got another round of shrugs and a few sighs from around the table. Soon, Jesse was back with some grilled meat, cheese, and bread.

“Nothing fancy but I thought I could whip this up quickly. It looks like if we don't feed Mat pretty quick, he'll pass out before he can eat." 

Indeed, Mat already had his chin buried into his chest and was struggling to stay upright. The food perked him up enough, and as soon as a plate was set in front of him, he began to eat ravenously. I fact, they all did. Greg realized that he hadn't eaten since breakfast and was starving. The food was delicious, and he stuffed himself. Once he had his fill, he walked over to the wooden keg in the kitchen and pulled another drink. He took a sip and realized that that the beer was colder than it should be. It was just a wooden keg sitting on the counter, but the beer seemed refrigerated. This whole kitchen was an odd mix. There was no plastic, mostly wood, like an old fashion kitchen, but the stove apparently worked without fire and beer was cold. 

“Hey Jesse, is there a fridge in here somewhere?”

“I haven’t seen one.”

“Has any of that food gone bad? Is the meat just sitting there room temperature?  
“Yea, but everything looks very fresh, like, the meat had to have been butchered and put down there today.”

“So these people that we haven’t seen put a bunch of food in here today? Is there any way to keep any of this fresh?”

“Well some of it should last a while, but I think by morning none of that meat will be edible, or at least we probably shouldn't eat it." 

The group sat around the table, picking at what was left of the food. After nodding off several times, Matt stood up. 

“Alright, I need to sleep, you said there were bedrooms through there?”

“Yea, there’s a bunch of them. There’s not much difference in any of them so just pick one I guess.”

"Fair enough." 

Matt groggily nodded his agreement and left the room. Kelly also stood up and headed to the door.

"I'm going to check those bookshelves to see if anything's interesting." 

The other three began to clear up the plates and glasses and brought them to the sink. Compared to the sinks they were all used to these were a bit odd. Instead of a knob or a lever to open the tap, there was a button on the back of the sink that when pressed caused water to pour out. After everything was cleaned up, they followed Kelly into the library. 

“Did you find anything interesting?”

“Yea, check this out. I found this book ‘Intro to Spellcasting,' and it's not like any book I've ever seen. It's like it conveys more information than just the words on the page. 

Jesse walked behind her and started to read over her shoulder. After a couple of seconds, she swooned a little bit and started to rub her eyes. 

"What is that just looking at it gives me a headache!" 

"It does give me a bit of a weird feeling, but it's not that bad." 

“I can’t even look at it.”

Greg and Joel also walked behind the couch. Kelly was sitting on to take a look at the book she was reading. Joel seemed to have the same reaction Jesse had and almost immediately had to look away while Greg continued reading through the page with increasing interest. 

"That's amazing, it's like the book is putting information in my head instead of just reading it." 

“I can’t even look at that!”

Greg wondered what was causing the different reactions depending on who was looking at the book. Was this book teaching magic? If so, could only some people learn magic? He walked over to the bookshelves and looked over the offerings. He was looking for another book that taught magic to see if it caused the same reactions. For the most part, it looked like everything was some sort of instruction manuals most several volumes organized together. There were several volumes on the history of Izril, best practices for farming, principles of metalworking, and there was something he found interesting. There was a series of books titled "Principles of Golemancy," he found the first volume and pulled it out. When he opened it, he found the book to be very similar to the one that Kelly was reading. He walked over to Joel and showed him the first page. 

“Take a look at this is it any different to you?”

“Gah! Stop making me look at these things!”

Joel walked away and began to review the bookcase. He pulled out another book and opened the first page. 

"Ah here, at least all of the books in here aren't trying to give me a stroke. ‘Principles of Metalworking Volume I,' it's all in plain English. Wait, if this isn't earth, why would this book be in English? Shouldn't this be all gibberish to me?" 

“That is weird, but I guess not any more than anything else we’ve seen today.”

Joel just shrugged and sat down to continue reading. Greg and Kelly were already fully immersed in their books. Jesse looked around and sighed.

“I guess, there’s not much else to do here.”

She reviewed several books and after a while pulled one off the shelf. 

“Popular Dishes and Recipes of the Drakes. Who are the ‘Drakes’?

Greg and Kelly didn't respond at all and Joel just shrugged. Kelly didn't give much thought to it and sat down and began reviewing the book. The four of them sat in silence, just reading for about an hour until Joel felt himself start to nod off. He stood up, yawned, and stretched. 

“Well, I'm calling it too. I'll see you all in the morning." 

He got a wave from Jesse and no response from Greg and Kelly. He found himself a bedroom and nearly immediately fell asleep.

[Class Blacksmith obtained!]  
[Blacksmith level 1]

“Huh”

Joel faded into a deep sleep.

 

Jesse was the next to give up on the day. She found an unoccupied bedroom and laid down to sleep.

[Class Cook obtained!]  
[Cook level 1]  
[Cook level 2]

[Skill – Basic cooking obtained!]  
[Skill – Quick Preparation obtained!]

It was several hours later before either Greg or Kelly moved from their books. It was Greg who finally couldn't concentrate any longer and fell asleep where he was sitting. 

[Class Warrior obtained!]  
[Warrior level 1]

[Class Golemancer obtained!]  
[Golemancer level 1]

Early the next morning, Greg was awoken when he fell out of his precarious sleeping position and hit the ground with a thud. After the rude awakening, it took several seconds for him to realize he was on a floor, several more seconds to understand where he was. Soon his memory from the previous day came flooding back, and he sat up to look around. He realized he must have dozed off while reading although he had no idea how long that had been. Then he remembered getting levels! What was that about? This world had levels? He was a [Golemancer]? A [Warrior]? The [Golemancer] class was exciting. As he thought about it, he realized he did have some understanding of how to create one. He was going to have to start finding some materials! The [Warrior] class he was less excited about. He wasn't a violent person. In fact, he had never even been in a fight. He stood up and stretched out the crick in his neck. He looked around the room and realized Kelly was still sitting on the couch, looking at the book. It looked like she hadn't moved at all. 

“Kelly, did you sleep at all? …..Kelly?”

She hadn’t responded at all. He walked over to her to shake her out of her daze and only then noticed the trail of blood that was coming out of her nose and was beginning to drip off her chin.

“God, Kelly, snap out of it!”

He gave her a shake and only then did she seem to come out of her trance. She had a quick pained expression and put her hand to her head and immediately collapsed. Greg laid her out on the couch and tried to get her to wake up, but she was unresponsive. He felt at her neck and did feel a heartbeat then noticed her chest was rising and falling. He went into the cafeteria and found the healing potion where they had left it the night before. He didn't know if it would do anything, but he poured a few drops into her mouth and coaxed her into swallowing it. After that, he sat down in the chair next to her and watched for any changes. From the best he could tell she was just asleep. 

[Class Mage obtained!]  
[Mage level 1]  
[Mage level 2]  
[Mage level 3]  
[Mage level 4]  
[Mage level 5]

[Unique skill – Magical Prodigy obtained!]  
[Unique skill – Endless Mana obtained!]


	2. Practice

2

For the next hour, Greg kept a vigil over Kelly, but she seemed to be sleeping peacefully. He jumped as the door to the bedroom hallway opened. Jesse walked out with a huge smile on her face. She saw Greg sitting in a chair, and Kelly was hidden from her view by the back of the couch. 

“Greg! You'll never believe what happened! When I went to sleep last night, I go some kind of message. It told me I had a [Cook] class. I want to go try it out. Want to see if my cooking is any better this morning?" 

“Quiet!" Greg loudly whispered. "Something happened with Kelly last night, and I don't want to wake her up. I think she needs to sleep off whatever happened." 

“What do you mean." 

Jesse walked around the couch and peered closely at Kelly concern blossoming on her face when she noticed the dried blood around Kelly’s nose.

"I fell asleep out here last night, and I woke up early this morning and when I woke I saw Kelly was still reading that book." 

He pointed to the floor where the book had fallen face up. Kelly looked at it and immediately began to feel that pressure on her head and looked away.

“Close that thing please, I can’t even look at it.”

Greg did so then sat back down. Jesse reached out to shake Kelly awake then thought better of it. She looked at Greg.

“Is she alright? Did she say anything?”

"No, she just passed out as soon as I took her attention away from the book. I think she's just sleeping now." 

“I guess we should just leave her alone then, do you want to go in there so we can talk?”

She pointed to the kitchen, and Greg nodded and followed her in. Jesse leaned against the kitchen counter and looked to Greg. 

“So did you hear what I said about my [Cook] class? What do you think that’s about? It said I’m level two now”

“I don’t know, I got classes too. I think in this world we get levels for the things we do.”

“Wait, you got classes, as in multiple?

“Yea, I got [Warrior] and [Golemancer]. I think I got the [Warrior] class because I fought that thing yesterday, and I got [Golemancer] because of the book I read.”

“This is all too crazy. This is like a video game? I’ve never really played any. Is this like one?”

“Well, this is a bit more real than any game I've ever played, but maybe this leveling works a bit like one. Maybe when everyone else wakes up, we can see what happened with them." 

"I guess that works. Anyway, you want breakfast? I want to check out if these skills I got with my [Cook] level do anything when I'm cooking." 

“Yea might as well make breakfast for everyone if you're up for it. Wait there are skills too? What's the difference between that and levels?" 

“I'll just make a bunch of stuff. Hopefully, everyone else will be up soon to eat it. I'm not sure about the skills I got [Basic cooking], and [Quick Preparation] along with my level. I'm going to check out the cellar to see if there's anything still good enough to cook." 

With that, she went down to look for something. She was expecting the room to be a bit ripe considering the copious amount of meat sitting out without refrigeration. What she found shocked her. Not only did the room not stink, but the meat she was looking at could also have been laid out only minutes ago from what she saw. There were cuts of steak laid out on a table to her right and instead of the slight gray that day old meat tended to have the cuts were still red as ever. This didn't make any sense. She grabbed some bacon and eggs and cheese, none of it smelled off so she thought she would risk it. She went back up the stairs, grabbed some bread, and got to cooking. It was somewhat odd, she realized she was moving around the kitchen and preparing the food without needing to think about it. She looked down, and the eggs were whisked, and the bacon cut and frying without even thinking about it. 

“I thought you said all that meat would go bad?”

"I can't explain it, but everything down there is as fresh as ever." 

In a blink, Jesse had a pile of bacon, eggs, and bread laid out looking delicious. As if on cue Mat walked into the cafeteria saw the food on the table and grinned. 

“Now that’s a great way to wake up. Should I wake up Joel and Kelly, I saw her on the couch.”

“Might be a good idea to wake Joel, let Kelly sleep though. There’s a bit of a story there, we’ll talk over breakfast.”

With that, Mat turned around and walked out of the room. A couple of minutes later, he was back. Joel followed him in a minute behind. 

“Morning folks, anyone else get a surprise while sleeping last night?”  
"Are you talking about getting a class, yea Jesse and I both did. I'm guessing you did too. What about you, Mat? 

“Getting a class? I don’t think so, would I know if I did? I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

"Jesse got the [Cook] class and two skills. I got a [Warrior] class and a [Golemancer] class but no skills. What did you get Joel?' 

“I got a [Blacksmith] class. I didn't get any skills either, what are those?" 

“Well, you have those to thank for this breakfast I just made. I got [Basic cooking], and [Quick Preparation] which lets me basically cook on autopilot and this stuff was done way faster than it should have been." 

“How did you all get classes? I didn’t get anything.”

“We're thinking we get them for the things we do like I got the [Warrior] class for attacking the monster and the [Golemance] from reading a book about it." 

“Then I guess I’m glad that I didn’t get a class for anything I did yesterday. I don’t think I’d want the [Be Eaten] class. That one would probably suck.”

Joel laughed and dug into the pile of food in front of him. 

"So what's the plan today? We probably need to find other people, but I'm not sure I want to brave the outdoors with what happened yesterday. I got that [Blacksmith] skill so I might read some more about it then figure out what I can do." 

“You're telling me if I just read a book about it I can learn magic? Why haven't both of you done that? I'd rather have some magic skills than a [Blacksmith] or [Cook]. I think I'll go find one of those now." 

Jesse and Greg shared a look between them, and Greg grabbed Mat's arm before he could leave the room. 

"There's a couple of things about the magic books. First is that neither Joel or I could read them. They gave us both nasty headaches, just looking at them for a few seconds. The second is that they might be dangerous even if you can read them. 

This comment caught Joel’s attention. He looked toward the door to the library.

"What do you mean dangerous? Did something happen to her?" 

"She didn't stop reading that book all night. I fell asleep on the couch after I couldn't keep reading, and when I woke up, she was still reading. You don't notice how much time is passing when you're going, but once you finish, it does catch up with you. Anyway, when I woke up, she was still reading, and when I tried to get her attention, I couldn't until I shook her. When I did, I noticed she had a nosebleed, and once she snapped out of it, she grabbed her head and passed out. She's been asleep since then." 

“Well, that is a bit of a concern, but I still need to try. I mean, it's magic! How cool is that! Let's put some controls in so that what happened with Kelly doesn't happen again. Assuming I can read one of these books, let's put a time limit on how long we let anyone study one. Also, since apparently, we can't keep track of time while doing it, nobody should study them alone. Sound good?" 

They all agreed, and it turned out that Mat could understand the books. He chose an introduction to enchanting to study. Jesse was going to review another cooking book, so she promised to keep an eye on him and Kelly. In the meantime, Joel and Greg decided to head back to the workshops to see if they could put what they learned so far into use. 

Greg knew the spell [Animate Lesser Golom] he knew from his studies the various materials that he could use to create a golem. In front of him, he had a pile of sand, a bucket of water, a lump of clay, and a collection of rocks. He could have also used some leaves or grass but didn't want to go outside to get those items. Anyway, he knew the spell and theoretically he knew how to cast it. However, everything in front of him stubbornly stayed a pile of whatever it was instead of what he wanted it to be. He had been at this for an hour at his best guess (he wished he wore watches or had his cellphone but alas). He tried closing his eyes and casting, speaking it, yelling it, just wishing it really, really hard. He'd gone on a couple of jogs around this vast room to clear his head. Nothing was working. Maybe he needed a wand or a staff? This place seemed to have everything else perhaps he could find one of those? He knew he shouldn't need one from his studies. They made casting more manageable, but they weren't necessary. Especially for a low-level spell like he was trying to cast. He sat down cross-legged near the pile of sand and cleared his mind. He focused on everything he knew about the spell, all the intricacy that went into it. He held his hand over the sand. 

[Sand Sprite]!

Nothing. Nothing! He lost himself in fantasizing about how cool creating the little minion would be, all the things he could have it do. From all of his life experiences, he knew such a thing was ridiculous, but he also knew deep down that here, where he was now such a thing was possible. In his mind's eye, he pictured a little man holding a spear made of sand standing in front of him. 

[Sand Sprite]!

The sand whirled around in front of him and formed into the exact thing he was picturing! There he was standing in front of him! This was amazing, he had created a golem that was about waist high. He thought about it running a lap in a circle around him. The golem obediently did so. He thought about the little guy stabbing him in the leg with its spear. It promptly stabbed him in the leg. 

“Ow! …..Idiot!”

He hopped around on one leg damning his own stupidity. It hadn't done to much damage to him. There was only a little pinprick of blood, but it had still hurt! He let his first creation alone and moved on to the bucket of water. This time he pictured a golem that was similar only it had eight spindly legs. He held his hand over the bucket. 

[Water Sprite]

Just like before the identical image of his imagination formed in front of him. He told it to move next to his sand sprite, and it got caught up on the bucket it was created in. It tripped, hit the ground, then splashed into a puddle of water. A water sprite wasn't the most durable of things he supposed. He held his hand over the pool of water. 

[Water Sprite]

The same sprite as before formed in front of him. This time each of its eight arms was holding a little water club. He looked between his two creations, and a mischievous look grew in his eye. He told the two sprites to fight each other and backed up to watch the show. Immediately the battle began. The sand sprite charged forward and stabbed his counterpart in the chest. The water sprite began beating on the sides of its opponent with all eight arms. The sand sprite kicked out its knee, and the water sprite was wrestled to the ground. They continued beating on each other until there was just a pile of wet sand that was no longer moving. He re-created but the sand and water sprites and moved on to the lump of clay. This time he pictured a burly man with a shield and sword. 

[Clay Sprite]

Much like before his mind's eye was made manifest. This time though somehow, it felt like it took more effort. Like something more, ineffable was taken out of him. Maybe this is what mana drain felt like? His golem was there in front of him though. Given the nature of clay, this one was much more defined than his previous attempts. He hadn't thought about it too hard, but in his mind, he had created some features on the shield. Those features had made it through to his creation. It also had something resembling hair. Overall, he was pretty proud of this little guy. It felt more substantial than his previous two creations. To test that theory, he ordered the sand and water sprites to attack his clay creation. The sand sprite again charged in while the water sprite moved to the side. The sand spear was aimed directly at the golem's head, but it raised its shield, and the spear dug in a bit but then broke apart. The clay golem then used its shield to bash the sand sprite. Sand blasted in a spray several feet around the impact. The water sprite took the opportunity to whip his adversary with all eight arms in rapid succession. The attacks did do a bit of damage as a significant part of its clay head was eroded. The clay sword whipped around and split the water sprite in two at the middle. Water sprayed away from the combatants. The water sprite did manage to stay together after the strike, but the next two blows broke it apart. He was impressed! He patted his little clay buddy on the head, reformed both the clay and sand variants and moved to the pile of pebbles. This time he pictured a big burly beast, more like his picture of a troll than a man. He held his hand out. 

[Rock Sprite]

This time it almost felt like a metaphysical punch. He lost the image in his mind and the rocks that had begun moving collapsed back into a pile. He tried again, and this time, it felt like a real punch to the gut. He fell to his knees and gasped. He laid on the ground for a couple of minutes just to catch his breath. On a hunch, he took a large swig of the mana potion he had found upstairs. He rapidly began to feel better. He gave the potion a couple of minutes to settle in. He wasn't sure that it was necessary, but it couldn't hurt. He held his hand out. 

[Rock Sprite]

This time he could still feel the drain but the rock formed into his little troll. It didn't have the definition of the clay golem, but it was impressive nonetheless. He now ordered a three versus one fight against the rock sprite. His rock sprite almost immediately dispatched the water and sand sprites with almost dispassionate ease. In just two blows there was a pile of sand and pools of water across the floor. The clay golem handled itself much better. It beat back the rock golem with its shield then repeatedly bashed it on the head with its sword. Soon the sword was bent out of shape but still the clay minion beat on stone. However, the rock sprite grabbed clay arms and began to pull the thing apart bit by bit. One arm, then the shield, then a leg. Soon there were just bits of clay strewn about. 

Suitably impressed Greg sat back and wondered what to work on next. He dismissed all of the sprites and relaxed for a minute. What else could he do? How many sprites could he have at once? He walked back to the supply room and pulled out crate after crate of sand. It took him about a half an hour to get what he considered enough. He created one, then two, five, ten, on the eleventh all of his previous creations collapsed into a pile. He repeated the process with water sprites and came up with the same result. He tried again with clay but ran out of mana halfway through. He drank some more mana potion and continued. Ten was his limit again. He decided not to try with the rock as he figured it would take too much mana. Thinking that was enough work for the day he sat down and formed an image in his head of his clay golem sans sword and shield. This time he concentrated as hard as he could on little details, clothing, hair, a face, individual fingers, as many features as he could think of. He held that image in his mind and held out his hand. 

[Clay Sprite]

This time he could feel it took more mana than his normal clay golems, but it was very detailed. He was once again proud of his creation. He ordered his little guy to clean up and leaned back to relax with a smile on his face. He was a real [Golomancer]! After everything was cleaned up, he walked back to the library with his sprite in tow. 

Joel wasn't entirely sure where he should start. From his reading, he knew the basics, and his class gave him a kind of instinct on what to do, but he still wasn't sure what to do. He took a walk around the forge, inspecting the equipment. The anvil appeared unused and pristine but high quality. So did the various implements and tools that he would need to use. He walked up to the forge and thought that this was strange compared to everything else he'd seen in this world. Everything seemed to be from a fantasy world so he'd expected that this forge would need a supply of coal for heat.

From what he could find in the room and storage, there was no sign of any coal. Nor was there any place to put it. He spent about ten minutes studying and poking it. Finally, he pulled a lever on the wall next to the forge. Almost immediately, he felt the heat start coming out. He pulled another bar, and it seemed to heat up even more. After a while of fiddling with the controls, he found he had quite a bit of control of the temperature. There was also a smaller forge that he could have at a separate temperature. So he had heat, and he had tools. He took a trip to the supply room and reviewed what he had available. There were many different kinds of metal bars present, including bronze, copper, iron, steel, and some other types of metal that he couldn't readily identify. What to use? Steel was the best of what he could determine, but he was all of level one. He imagined if he were a regular member of this world, he should still be an apprentice to some higher level [Blacksmith]. Since he was just starting, he might as well start in the bronze age, right? He knew that since it was bronze, he wouldn't need to pound anything into shape since bronze was cast. He began to look around to see if any molds were already made. Finally, he found a whole shelf with several different patterns. He looked around until he found one that was a mold for a decent sized knife. He took the mold and a bronze bar back into the forge and got to work. He turned the heat up, placed the bronze in the crucible, and waited. Once he had the metal hot enough, he pulled the crucible out with his tongs and poured it into the mold. Another round of waiting and the metal was cooled within the mold. After breaking open the mold, he had a hunk of bronze in the rough shape of a knife. Of course, it had rough edges and still needed some work. He took his nascent knife over to the grindstone to refine its edges.

While in this part of the room, he noted a window to another place. That room was covered in some kind of runes all over the walls ceiling and floors. There was a table in the center of the room with a massive crystal underneath the table. He had no idea what any of that did so he didn't pay it much attention. He spent several hours grinding and polishing. Finally, he had the makings of a decent bronze knife. He spent a couple of hours creating a handle and fitting it to the blade. After all was said and done, he had what was most likely a sub-par bronze knife. It was about the length of his forearm, but he had made it! He had never actually created something like this before, and he was quite proud. 

He decided that wasn't enough work for the day and decided to move on to the iron age. He had a bronze knife no he would see if he could make an iron shield. He went back to the storage room and grabbed a bar of iron. He again heated the metal, this time just heating up enough so that he could shape it. He pulled it out, set it on the anvil, and began pounding. That process repeated over and over. Heat, pound, heat, pound and eventually he was left with a thin circle of iron. He placed his circle of metal in a bath the removed it and left it to cool. He went to find a sheet of wood that he could use to make a wood backing for his shield. He found a sheet of wood and some leather for a handle then cut the wood down to the same size as his iron. Fixing it all together took some work, but eventually, he had a crude iron shield. He wasn't as proud of this work but still considered it a successful test. Once done, he took his creations and headed back to the library to show off his work. 

By serendipity, Joel had finished and entered the big room (they really needed to name this room) just as Greg was finishing up. He looked in shock at the moving statue that was following Greg. 

"That thing is awesome. Hang on a second wait here, and I'll be right back." 

Joel ran back into his workshop and grabbed a couple of strips of leftover leather. When he got back to Greg, he tied the leather around the golem-like a belt and another over its shoulder. He handed the knife and the shield to the golem. Then Greg instructed it to put the knife in its belt and the shield on its back. 

“Nice!” 

Greg gave Joel's work an appreciative once over, and they began to walk back. 

“That knife and shield are pretty darn good for a first attempt.”

"Thanks, man. It's more than I thought I would get done today." 

“Yea, I figured out quite a bit myself.”

They entered the library and found it empty save for Kelly, who was still asleep on the couch. They continued to the cafeteria and found Jesse and Matt playing some kind of card game.

“Nice! They have cards in this world?”

"They're different, but Mat and I made up a game to play to pass the time. We did quite a bit of reading too, but he had to pace himself, and there's only so much reading I'm willing to do. …..What is that thing?" 

"This is the fruit of both of our labor for today. This is my golem outfitted with the gear Joel was able to make today." 

“Nice! By the way, Joel, if you're going to work on the same stuff tomorrow, you should bring me with you. I've been studying enchanting all day, so I may be able to put something on the next thing you make. It works best when I do it just after you make it." 

“Sounds good man count me in.”

Greg peeked his head back into the library. 

“She didn’t wake up all day?

"No, I figured I'd try to wake her once I've got dinner ready. Speaking of which I should get started." 

“Hey, you need anything carried up from the cellar?”

“Yea a few things, you offering to help? Thanks for that.”

Jesse began to rattle off some ingredients that she wanted to be carried up, and before she was finished, Greg had his minion opening the cellar door and walking down the stairs. 

“Ha, when you offered to help this wasn't what I was thinking. Can that thing handle tasks like that? That's pretty nice, can we have like a thousand of them waiting on us hand and foot? It'd be like having slaves without it being morally terrible." 

“Yea, so far I've only been able to make ten of them. I don't know if that'll increase as I level up, but I'm afraid your dreams of a golem workforce are just a dream at the moment. They can help out, though. Maybe I can leave that one in the kitchen. You should be able to order it about, but I haven't tested that yet. I'm not sure if it's only me that can give it orders." 

“Well if I’m going to be giving it orders it should have a name.”

"Sure, since I'm leaving it here, you can name it." 

“Alright, I hereby name you… um… Aldo? That work?”

She got a round of shrugs then got to work making dinner. She had Aldo grab ingredients as she did the cooking. The others debated on how to make a three-man game for the cards they had while she worked. They hadn't come up with anything that worked by the time she was finished. 

“Time to wake Kelly?”

Greg was hoping she would have already woken up on her own, but they did need to get her to make sure she was okay. He nodded, and Jesse went in to wake her. She gently shook Kelly, and to her relief, Kelly began to stir. 

“Gah… What? Where? What happened?”

“We're thinking that you studied that book too long. Greg found this morning still engrossed in that book, but you were bleeding from the nose, and as soon as you were interrupted, you passed out. It's around dinnertime, and you've been asleep all day." 

“Well, that’s a bit troubling. I was bleeding?”

“Yea, we've set some ground rules on studying those magic books. Not doing it unattended as apparently, you can't tell how much time has passed and not studying for too much at one time. Anyway, you hungry? We've got dinner ready." 

Kelly nodded and followed Jesse into the cafeteria. She did a double take of the golem who was now standing on the table next to the group. It was mimicking a sword fight. 

"Yea, that's my creation, and the knife and shield are Joel's." 

“So you all got classes too?”

“Yea, Joel got the [Blacksmith] class, Greg got [Golomancy], and Jesse got [Cook] and a couple of skills on top of that. I imagine Mat’s going to get the [Enchanter] class or something like that tonight with all the studying he did today. What about you? Did nearly killing yourself get you anything?”

Kelly had to grimace when she thought about how inadvertently dangerous what she had done was.

"Yea, I guess I'm now a [Mage], and I got a couple of skills too, [Unique skill – Magical Prodigy], and [Unique skill – Endless Mana].”

The mention of getting two unique skills led to shocked looks from everyone else. Greg had to admit to himself that he was a bit jealous of her getting what sounded like two powerful skills. He hadn’t gotten any.

“Those skills sound pretty powerful, only Jesse has received any skills on top of the classes. So did you learn any spells?”

Kelly kept her eyes on the table as a glass of wine floated from the kitchen to land in front of her. 

"Well, I'm suitably impressed." 

Kelly just blushed and buried her face in her glass of wine. Joel saw she was uncomfortable with the attention, so he tried to steer the conversation elsewhere. 

"So we've all seemed to develop some impressive skills, but I think we need to come up with a plan. Even if all this food doesn't go bad, we're going to need to find civilization at some point. Assuming there is civilization somewhere. Anyone have any ideas or concerns?" 

“I agree we need to find some other people but our last venture outside didn't go so well. My golems may be able to help defend us, especially if we spend a few days letting Joel kit them out like Aldo over there. I'm not sure that they will be a ton of help against that monster we went up against. Particularly if there's more than one we have to go up against." 

“It'll take some time, but I can probably make us some stuff. Did you say ten golems, Greg? It's going to take some time, but maybe if I can gain some levels, and if Mat helps me, we may end up with something decent. One problem is that even if you give me a sword and shield, I'm not a fighter, and I don't want to be a fighter. I'm not sure about any of you. I know you got that [Warrior] class, Greg." 

“I got the class, but I don't want to do any real fighting either." 

“There’s already some stuff upstairs.”

Kelly spoke this to the plate in front of her barely audible, but Joel did pick up on it. 

“Wait there’s already gear up there? What is it?”

“There's a bunch of stuff, we can all go look I guess." 

They had all finished eating, so they began to file out of the cafeteria, and Jesse left instructions to Aldo to clean up after them. Once they were in the storage room by the entrance, Kelly directed them to the gear she was talking about. There was quite a bit of equipment. There were swords, steel armor, bows, arrows, wands, staffs. More than enough for all of them. Joel walked over to a group of mannequins that held some more gear. This all looked to be of higher quality than the stuff on the shelves. Here everything was more ornate with more decoration on everything. Mat followed Joel and began to peer closely at everything. 

“I can't identify most of this, but I can say nearly everything over here is highly enchanted. Given that I can't identify anything, it probably means they have high-level enchantments." 

Joel chimed in.

“All I can say is that all of these pieces are masterwork quality. Even the stuff on the shelf is better than anything I can make.”

“I'm thinking all of this outclasses anything my golems need. I still think it's a good idea to have you make gear for them. So, how's this for a plan. We spend the next week with Joel and Mat creating gear, the rest of us will focus on leveling up as much as we can. At the end of the week, we gear up and set out hoping to find some sort of civilization. There has to be some kind of town near here somewhere. Sound good?" 

There were nods all around. The group went back downstairs and spent some more time coming up with a game for the cards they had. After a while, they all called it a night. 

[Golomancer level 3]

[Skill – Sturdy Creations obtained!]

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Cook level 3]

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Blacksmith level 2]

[Skill – Sharp Blades obtained!]

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Class Enchanter obtained!]


	3. Jouney

3

The next morning Mat followed Joel into the forge to see if he could put his new [Enchanting] class to use. He had chosen the enchanting books to study because he believed that it would be a useful contribution to the group, notably, in conjunction with Joel's talent. The problem, he realized, only after study was the [Enchanting] was a group project. It was only a limited number of things that a single [Enchanter] could do, and most of those were not particularly powerful. He explained this to Joel as they walked. They settled on a hardening enchantment that should make both the knives and the shields a little bit more durable. 

Joel thought that might mean his sharper edges would hold a bit longer. When they got to the forge, it didn't take long for Mat to find the adjoining room with the runes and large crystal at the center. He could tell that the runes were useful in enchanting, but he really couldn't understand what the crystal was for or the overall mechanism of the room. He hoped that with further studying, he would come to know how to use the room, but for now, Mat would focus on what he could do. The main problem with that, he realized was that it was boring. All he could do was wait around until Joel had finished something and then spend five minutes enchanting it. Hours of work for Joel and five minutes for him. Not a bad deal overall but it was boring. After the first knife, he decided that it was more fun watching Greg have his golems battle each other, and the Joel could yell for him once he was nearing completion. Over the next couple of days, Joel began to speed up his production rate. They were halfway through the week when Joel had finished enough to outfit all of Greg's ten possible golems fully. From then on, they focused on only producing the knives as they figured the group might be able to sell those if they managed to find a town somewhere. By the end of the week, Joel and Mat had managed to make an additional twenty knives. 

 

Jesse focused on keeping the group fed and spent the rest of her days practicing recopies and studying cookbooks. By the end of the week, the group couldn't wait to get into her kitchen and see what she had come up with next. 

Kelly spent the time studying and practicing her spellcraft. She had appropriated a wand and the rest of the gear that had been on a mannequin. One thing she had found that had shocked everyone had come in the form of what Mat was calling a "bag of holding." It could hold seemingly everything you could put into it without filling up or becoming too heavy. Kelly had added several spells by the end of the week including [fire orb], [electric jolt], [stone dart], and [sticky webs]. She even spent a day sparring with Greg's golems, which was pretty darn fun she had to admit. Kelly spent one day insisting that both Mat and Greg both spent some time learning at least one spell outside of their specialization. Mat argued about a video game concept, something about "min/maxing" and that they didn't want to become generalized, but she argued that they were already mages, just specialized ones so they shouldn't lose any ground by learning other spells. In the end, between the books and her instructions, they were both able to cast the [sticky web] and [fire orb] spells. 

Greg spent most of the week studying playing with his golems. Throughout the week, he made sure to raise at least one rock sprite every day. He wanted to have ten of them before they set out and with how much mana they needed he didn't want to leave all of those for just before they set out.

At the end of day six, they sat around the table after finishing their dinner, leaving Aldo to clean up after them. They had finally settled on a game for the cards they had and were playing it while discussing plans for the next day. Greg took a look around the table. 

"So does everyone think we're set to head out tomorrow? I can replace Aldo in the morning, and then we can get geared up and set out?" 

“Owww…. Do you have to replace the little guy, I’m growing a bit attached to him in here.”

“Yea, but he’ll be back once we get back.”

“Any other concerns before we set off into the unknown? Anyone have any ideas on where to go?”

“Well, we already went left at the entrance, let’s head right?”

“That brings up a separate concern, ‘left’ and ‘right’ doesn’t leave me with a whole lot of confidence that we won’t end up hopelessly lost.”

“Um… I learned some spells that should help with that. I can at least always point us in the direction that heads back to here.”

"Thanks, Kelly, that settles me I'm going to bed." 

With that, they all called it a night and headed to bed. 

The next morning they were all gathered around the entrance. They had all picked gear from the high-quality sections of the storage room. Jesse was wearing leather armor and was carrying a spear with some engravings on the side. Joel cut an impressive figure. He was in full plate armor with a helm and kite shield and was carrying a sword. Matching gold embellishments covered all of it. Kelly, Greg, and Mat were all in wizard robes with the stereotypical hats. The hats got them quite a bit of rib poking from the other two. Mat and Greg had opted for staves while Kelly preferred the wand.   
Mat looked around at the group and sighed.

"We may look impressive, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable if I knew what any of this gear did. For all I know one of us may start floating away at any moment.”

Greg just shrugged at gestured to the door. With that, they set out. They set up a blanket as a flag on the wall near the door, so they could find it when they returned and began heading toward the right from out of the entrance. This was a slight uphill climb, but they hoped that they would get a good view of the surrounding area once they got to the peak they could see in the distance. They filled the time with idle chatter as they walked up the hill. The ten waist high rock sprites spread out around them as a guard. It took a little bit of an hour for them to reach the rounded peak of the hill. The vantage did give them a fantastic view. The horizon seemed to be endless. In fact, to Greg, it seemed to be too far away.

“Does the horizon look weird to anyone?”

“What do you mean?”

“I can't put my finger on it, but it seems like we shouldn't be able to see this far." 

"Speaking of seeing things in the distance you all see what I see over there?"   
They did, it appeared to them to be a decent sized town in the distance. None of them had any frame of reference in this world, so they didn't know this was considered a substantial city in this part of the continent. To the group who was used to cities in the millions, what they saw seemed like a large town. They also lacked the frame of reference to be able to give an accurate gauge of the distance to the city. 

“It's right there. We did all this planning, and we didn't realize that we were just a bit of a walk from the nearest town." 

“If we make good time we may not even need any of this food we packed. We’ll be eating in an inn by lunch!”

“Well, at least we know where we're going. Kelly, can you keep us going in the right direction even if we lose sight of the town?" 

Kelly nodded, and they began the trek down the hill. It wasn't long before Greg heard a familiar growling somewhere to his right. 

“Look out! Get in a circle!”

The group formed a circle, and the sprites circled them. Suddenly a familiar form burst out of the brush. It made a straight line for the group but was intercepted by a rock sprite. The sprite stood in front of the monster, held out its shield and prepared to strike it with its knife. As it brought the knife down the beast bowled through the sprite leading to a spray of rocks and the distinct lack of a remaining sprite. It did slow down the animal enough for the other golems to converge. They swarmed the monster and began hacking. Eventually, it stopped fighting back, and Greg's minions finished the job. 

"Well, that went better than last time." 

"All of my insides are still inside, so I have to agree." 

They all laughed, waited for Greg to revive his lost sprite then continued on their way. And continued. The sun was beginning to get low in the sky when they stopped by a stream to get some water.

“Are you sure we’re still going in the right direction?

“The town we saw is still that way." 

Mat sighed. He flopped down on the ground and laid flat on his back. 

"I can't go any more today. We've been walking since the sun was rising and now it's setting. I think I've walked farther today than I have in my entire life. I'm not sure if any of you have actually seen me, but I'm not exactly in shape." 

"I'm in shape, and I need to call it a day." Joel laughed. "I vote we set up came here." 

They set to it and before too long they had tent’s set up and a fire going. They sat around the fire and Jesse pulled out a dinner she had prepared before they left.

“It can’t be all that much farther can it? It didn’t seem this far when we saw it this morning.”

“I think we’re all just used to covering distances like this with a car. We were probably looking at an hour-long drive, but that takes a bit longer when you're hiking." 

The group didn't even make it to the tents and fell asleep, curled up around the fire. It was a comfortable night. The long day combined with the comfort of the fire led to five soundly sleeping companions. The fire slowly burnt down throughout the night, and just as the sun began to rise the insects in the area went silent. None of the group noticed that as they were all still soundly asleep. Luckily for them, Greg's sprites didn't sleep. A group of ten bandits came rushing through foliage and into the clearing in which the group slept. One bandit swung a sword down at a sprite who managed to get it's shield up in time. The clang of the sword to shield finally made enough noise to wake the dead, let alone the group. 

Kelly was the first to react. She had a force wall spell out and blocking half of the attackers before Greg even had his head up. Two sprites plunged their knives into one bandit who had fallen after running into the force wall. On the other side of the clearing, a group of four bandits swept away the two guarding sprites. A [Flame Orb] from Mat and a spear thrust Jesse ended their charge. Successive [Stone Dart] spells from Kelly took out three more bandits. Greg raised two of the rock sprites that had been felled at the beginning of this battle. Another force wall from Kelly pushed three of the remaining attackers to the ground, and they were promptly set upon by sprites. The last standing bandit brushed past Joel and before anyone could react stabbed his sword into the middle of Kelly's chest. With a fearful scream, Jesse plunged her spear into the attacker's neck. Kelly fell to the ground with the sword still sticking out of her chest. 

“Oh, god! Kelly!" 

Jesse ran to Kelly’s prostrate form and put her hands around the sword.

“What do I do? Do I pull it out?

“Get the healing potion!”

Greg and Mat both ran to the packs they had and each pulled out a potion. As they turned around, Jesse yelped in surprise. They stood in shock as the sword that had been in Kelly's chest clanged to the ground. Moments later, Kelly sat up inhaling with a gasp. She started coughing violently with blood spilling from her mouth. Greg hurried over, poured some potion on her chest, and told her to drink the rest. She did so, retched a little bit then sighed and laid back down on the ground. 

“That was close! Jesse, did you already have a potion on you? Good reaction time!”

“That wasn't me. I was panicking, and all of the sudden, the sword flew out of her, and she started healing." 

“Kelly, is that some spell you didn’t tell us about? Are you the new group healer?”

"It wasn't me either. I looked, but I haven't found anything about a healing spell." 

“Maybe it’s the enchantment on her robes.” Mat chimed in.

Greg just sighed and sat down.

“We really need to find out what these things do.”

"I'm working on it, but I don't know if it's a skill or just something that I can get if I level up. Maybe I can ask someone when we get to that town. You okay Kelly?" 

Kelly just rubbed her hand on her chest and nodded yes. Jesse began pulling out some food for breakfast while Greg and Mat started poking around the bandits. Joel just sat on the ground with his eyes downcast. He gave a glance to Kelly and returned his eyes to the earth. 

"I'm sorry." 

His words were barely audible. Kelly was the only one who heard him. She got up and sat next to him. 

“It’s okay. I get it.”

“It's not okay; I got scared. I couldn't fight, and I almost got you killed." 

“I don't blame you. Actually…. I kind of envy you." 

“Why would you envy me?”

Joel looked at Kelly in surprise who sat on the ground, hugging her knees to her chest. He saw she had tears flowing out of her eyes before she hid her face.

“I…. I just killed three people. I basically caused the death of four more. I’m a murderer.”

“No, not at all…. You are not a murderer. Not in any sense of the word. You saved our lives. If you weren't here, the four of us would be dead. You also can't murder someone who is trying to kill you. You are not a murderer by the definition of the word. You are not a murderer morally. You're a hero." 

Kelly gave a choked snort.

“I don’t feel like a hero. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get this image out of my mind.”

“Well, you’re my hero.”

Joel scooted over and enveloped Kelly in his arms. She was shaking as she sobbed into his chest.

Jesse was pulling supplies out to get breakfast ready. She saw the interaction between Joel and Kelly, and though she couldn't hear it, she understood the body language. She understood what Kelly was feeling. She understood, but she didn't agree with it. She had just killed two people, but she couldn't bring herself to feel bad about it. They were going to kill her and her friends. Now, they couldn't kill anyone. She didn't relish the feeling, but she didn't feel bad. She also sincerely hoped that she would never be in a situation where she had to fight like that again. Today she had to kill to live, but she would be okay spending the rest of her life as a cook. 

Greg and Mat stood across from each other over the body of the bandit. Mat looked down, and the body then back up to Greg. 

“Think we should loot the bodies? This world is like a video game, right? That means we should loot the bodies, right?" 

“I mean, it makes sense. At the very least we can sell this stuff.”

Mat looked over at Joel and Kelly.

“Can you believe he just stood there like that. He could have gotten us all killed!”

“I can’t blame him, none of us are fighters. Besides, it’s not like I did anything either.”

"You're right, we're not fighters, besides Kelly at least. She really saved the day I don't know how you can say you didn't do anything. It was your golems that woke us up, and they took out a few of these bastards. Without the two of you, we'd be toast." 

"My golems helped, but I froze. All I did in that fight was raise two of them. By then, it was too late for those two to do anything. It was Kelly that saved us. I froze just as bad as Joel." 

“Well, I don't believe you, and even if you didn't help in the fight I know we'd be dead without your golems and Kelly's…. she cast, like, eight spells in two seconds. I'm a bit jealous of her talent at least." 

On that last part, Greg had to agree. Kelly's display was impressive. There was no way he could do that. He looked over and saw the trouble she was having. He understood that feeling too. Even though he didn't directly kill anyone, he was responsible for their deaths. He didn't know how he felt about it and resolved himself not to think about it. 

“It looks like Kelly is having some trouble with what she’s done. How are you doing with it?”

“I don’t feel bad for these criminals. I’d just as soon stay out of these fights in the future though.”

"On that, we can agree." 

Greg and Mat got on with the macabre task of looting the corpses of anything that looked valuable. After they were done the washed off in the nearby creek then joined Jesse for a bite to eat. Eventually, Joel and Kelly joined them. Jesse gave Kelly a quick hug, and Greg patted Joel on the back. Mat still gave Joel a bit of a look, but it didn't seem he would make an issue of it. They ate mostly in silence, just thanking Jesse for the food. Greg raised a few of his rock sprites, drank a mana potion, then raised the rest. After that was done, the group packed up and left with Kelly pointing the way. 

They walked through the morning. Just as they were debating on stopping to eat, they found a small dirt road. Not long after, they came upon a farm. They found the farmer on his front porch sitting in a rocking chair drinking a glass of water. Greg approached the farmer. 

“Excuse me, sir? We're looking for a town we're hoping that it's nearby? 

“Yea, town's down this road a ways, bout a half hour walk from here. Don't get many adventurers in these parts. ‘Cept for those boys who like to call themselves an adventuring team. Not high rank ones like you from the look of it. Not sure what would bring folks like you all the way out here. Anyway, you don't want to hear me ramble. Like I said, Vicker's just down the road a bit that way." 

"Thanks for the information, sir. By the way, we don't know much about the area. Can you tell us anything about…. Vicker, did you say?”

“I don’t make it into the city much these days. These legs are too darn old. I imagine you’ll be staying at Will’s inn once you get to town. He’ll be glad to give you all the gossip. If you see my boy, Yuri, there tell him to quit his drinking and get home. We’ve got work to do.

The group gave their thanks and wished the farmer a good day and began the final stretch to the town they now knew as Vicker. The farmer was accurate in his estimate of how long it would take and thirty minutes later they came around a bend and the trees cleared away to give them a clear view of the city. From a distance, it looked like it was mostly wood buildings with few more than a single story. They could see a few taller buildings near the center of the town. All of these buildings surrounded a stone building that was significantly larger than the rest of the cities buildings. It looked to be at least six or seven stories high. The town was surrounded by a high wooden wall, and they could see that there were guards on the top of the gate from where they were. It also appeared that the town had overgrown the walls. Buildings were spilling out of the gates at several points around the city. 

Greg dismissed all of his sprites before they continued, and soon they approached the gates. The guards watched them approach with interest but made no move to stop them. As they walked under the gates, the guards did call out to them. 

“The guild hall is down this road then left at the inn. Break no laws and cause no trouble and you'll have no problem with the guard. If you do cause trouble, we’ll be capable of dealing with you. Welcome to Vicker adventurers."


	4. Welcome to Vicker

4

The town of Vicker opened to greet the group. Now that they were within the walls they could see that the town was…. Dirty. The roads were dirt, the houses showed signs of disrepair with sunken roofs, and crooked hinges, there were people about, but few seemed to be going anywhere. It looked like a dusty western town grown large. They drew quite a few eyes as they walked down the road. None were outright mistrustful but more than a few were suspicious. They brought some comments as well. Many talking about "adventurers" and a few speculating about their "rank." They continued down the road until they came to what looked like the inn. It was actually three stories high and seemed to have been better maintained than most of the rest of the town. The five stood in front of the inn and paused. 

“You know all those fantasy adventure stories start here.”

“Not sure I’m up for one of those. What we went through just on the way here is more than enough adventure for my lifetime.”

“Agreed.”

“Me too.”

Kelly just kept her eyes on her feet. Mat cleared his throat.

"Those guards mentioned something about a guild. What do you think that means. Also, everyone keeps calling adventurers. I thought at first it just meant that we were traveling here, but now I think that actually means something. Think we should go into the inn or should we check out this guild first?”

Jesse started walking to the inn’s door.

“I can tell you that I’m tired and hungry and I want to sit down. This place looks like the most likely place that I can take care of all three things at once.”

Greg held Jesse back and spoke quietly to the group.

“Before we go in I wanted to suggest that we all keep where we’re from on the down low. We don’t know anything about this place but letting everyone know we’re not even from this planet may bring us the wrong kind of attention.”

Everyone thought about the suggestion and agreed. Once they were inside, they looked around and the contents of the inn, and its occupants. The inn seemed clean but to so clean as to be unwelcoming. There was a bar along the back wall with stools lined in front of it. Tables filled most of the rest of the room save for a raised stage to their right. About half the tables were occupied, and nearly everyone looked up when they walked in. Silence descended on the rest of the room set their attention on the group as they made their way to the bar. 

"Welcome to the Vicker Square Inn adventurers. Name's Will, and this is my inn. Can I offer you lodging, a drink, something to eat? We've got the best fare in town and if you'll let me brag a bit the best fare in north-west Izril south of first landing." 

Greg nodded and smiled.

“We'd like all three, but I've got to admit we're a bit light on currency at the moment. We have some things to offload though. If you could point us in the right direction, we look forward to some food, drink, and a bed." 

“Well, I imagine you'll find willing buyers for most anything you're looking to sell in the market. If you head down the street toward the left from here, then head right once you hit the palace you'll run into the market." 

 

Greg thanked the innkeeper, and the group walked out of the inn and took the directions given. As they approached the palace, they couldn't help noticing the discrepancy between it and the rest of the town. The roads around the castle were cobblestone, the lawns looked freshly manicured. There were flowerbeds and fountains everywhere. The walls of the palace were covered in detailed relief sculptures. Overall, it looked like a wealthy French mansion. The juxtaposition between it and the rest of the town that looked like an old western town was jarring. They didn't dwell on that though, as they continued to the market. The market consisted of a cobblestone square with wooden buildings on all sides. All of the buildings had fronts that opened entirely to the square. There were probably twenty stores open with their shopkeepers yelling out their wares to the roughly hundred people milling about. 

“You there, adventurers. Come see my ware’s, you’ll not find better on the continent.” 

The vendor calling them over was a middle age man with a slightly stooped back and a bit of a paunch. He was surrounded by various weapons and armor and was beckoning to them with a smile. As they approached, he gave them all an inspecting look. 

“I see you are already well equipped, but I'm sure we can find something for you. Almut at your service." 

Greg approached the man and shook his hand.

“We’re actually looking to sell today. Would you be willing to look at what we have?

"Sure, sure. Looking to offload some spoils? Let's take a look at what you have." 

They presented the gear they had scavenged, as well as the knives they had to sell. Almut gave the items an appraising look. He picked up some of the bandit's gear, gave it a quick glance, shrugged, and put it down. He moved on to the knives and paused. 

“An odd mix of goods you have here. The swords and armor are of poor quality, but I can offload them to a traveling merchant. The knives are more interesting. The build quality is middling, and it's a bit hard to move bronze items, but I can see they have an enchantment on them. Do you mind telling me what the enchantment is? You usually don't find enchantments on low-grade bronze." 

Joel went a bit red in the face at Almut's comments, but he and Mat stepped forward. 

"These are knives I crafted. I'm just learning the class, but they do have additional sharpness due to a skill." 

"The enchantments are a basic durability enhancement. Even though they're bronze, they should last longer than a normal steel blade." 

The vendor nodded and gave the knives another look. 

"Alright, I'll give you three gold and five silver for the lot of it. I can't go any higher than that until I figure out if I have a market for the knives. I'll admit I've never tried to sell anything like them." 

The group looked at each other and shrugged. Greg pulled them off to the side.

“It would really help if we knew how much three gold and five silver was. Maybe we should have asked what the prices at the inn were.”

"I saw a bed was five copper, dinner was three, and a drink was one. I don't know how many coppers are in a silver or silvers in a gold though." 

Joel looked at his feet, sighed, and walked back to the vendor.

"I obviously can't use it anyway." He mumbled that at his feet. 

“How much would you give me for my armor.”

The vendor burst out laughing. He looked at the armor, knelt over and nearly choked on his laughter.

"Who do you think I am, boy. I can't buy that from you. My [appraisal] skill tells me that set is worth at least 10,000 gold and probably much more than that. I don't know how you kids got that equipment, but I doubt there's enough gold in all of Vicker to buy that armor. The lord may be hoarding enough gold to buy that. Like a drake, that man is. I doubt it though. No, you're walking around in more gold than I've ever seen in my life most likely." 

That brought shocked looks from the group which they quickly tried to cover. They agreed to sell the rest of the gear for the agreed upon price, promised to be back, then made their way back to the inn.

“Welcome back! I hope you found your trip to the market fruitful. Can I get you something to eat? Feel free to find a seat and our waitress will be with you soon.”

The group found an open table and sat down. Soon they had a meal in front of them and were sipping on a tasty beverage. They were debating on the next steps when Mat let out a yelp while looking at four people approaching them. Greg turned around and failed to hold back a yelp of his own. Two of the people approaching their table were "people." It probably wasn't right to say that the other two weren't people, but they definitely weren't human. One looked like a dog standing upright. The other was some kind of lizard. They both were standing like the humans, but they were absolutely a shock to the five humans not from this world. One of the humans approached close to the table. 

“So a new adventurer group in town, huh? Let me introduce you to the Wild Hunt, a bronze rank team. I'm Mary, a [Ranger], this slab of man behind me is Seth, a [Berserker], This is surly drake is Vinnik, a [Warrior], and last but not least is Senlut, our [Scout]." 

All eyes remained on Vinnik and Senlut.

“What’s the matter human, never seen a gnoll before? I can smell the fear on you. You need not worry. Gnolls and Drakes may not make it this far north often but us adventurers should be more used to traveling, yes? It seems adventurers of your rank should be more used to seeing non-humans.”

Greg cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, trying to buy time to clear his head and create an intelligible sentence. 

“Uh…. Um. We meant no offense Senlut. We uh…. We just didn’t expect to see any um… drakes and gnolls around these parts.”

“No offense taken." Mary cut in. "Their kind are rare around here. Especially so far from the major human cities. They were both members of a caravan guard that made their way here from Invrisil. Their group ran into some problems, and they were left without behind when they got to Vicker. We're one of two groups taking contracts out of this city." 

“Taking contracts? Hmph. We've completed one contract, ran away from the last one, and have been sitting on our tails since then." 

“We’re a new team, Vinnik, we’re still figuring some things out.”

“Figuring out how not to nearly get us all killed the next time we go out right?”

“Perhaps there is a better time and place for this?”

“Hmph.”

Mary sighed and turned back to the table.

“Anyway, like I said we’re a new group, we don’t have much in the way of levels or gear so I was hoping that we could team up on a contract. Our last contract was a disaster, we took one to deal with some bandits, but there were too many of them, and we barely made it out of the forest alive. You all look like you've found quite a bit of success and we would be grateful if we could tag along and learn from you." 

Greg looked around his group and wondered how to respond to the request. They weren't adventurers even though everyone assumed they were. He'd come to realize that it was the gear that made everyone believe so. Apparently what they were wearing and carrying was noticeably high quality for this world, and anyone wearing this gear would be assumed an adventurer. The problem was that if anyone spent any time with his group, they would quickly realize that these were not heroes from a fantasy story. None of them was even high level. That all brought him back to the question at hand. He still had no idea how to answer it. He decided to stall.

“While I don't want to rule out your offer, we were planning on taking it easy for some time. We're new to the area and wanted to get the lay of the land before we acted upon anything. Perhaps sometime in the future?" 

Mary nodded and began to back her team away.

"Of course, you can usually find us either here or at the guild should you change your mind." 

The group finished their meal then purchased five rooms for the night. They took turns using the bath the inn had costing them five coppers each, but it was worth it after their journey. After that, they all retired to their rooms. They had all brought books to study, and they all either took advantage of those or napped. That evening they rejoined the common area and were treated to a dinner. There was a singer on the stage for entertainment who they all found the singer unnaturally compelling. She seemed to take them all to other worlds or times with each song. It was entrancing and beautiful. The room eventually began to clear out and ultimately was just the innkeeper and the group sitting at the bar. Greg figured this was an excellent time to get some more information about the world they had found themselves in. 

“So we're not from around here, and I'll admit we didn't learn anything about it before we ended up in Vicker. Can you tell us a little about this town or this part of the world? Anything we should know?" 

“Well, let's see. First of all, you'll get some arguments if you keep calling Vikker a town. Vikker is the largest city in the western regions of the human land on Izril. This is the political seat of power in the whole region." 

Greg just nodded and accepted that statement. It was definitely good for future reference.

"Hmm...What else do you need to know? Lord Vicker is the lord of the city and the surrounding area for miles around. You won't hear him say it, but he's not actually a Vicker as the last real Vicker died over a century ago. His father took the name when he took control of the region, and everyone's been pretending it's true ever since. As far as the area, like I said, Vikker is the seat of power for the western region of human controlled Izril, but it's also about as far west as any populated region. There are a couple of villages to the west of here, but most of the people in Lord Vicker's land are either in Vicker itself or east of here. There are a few towns under his control, Midden and Firden being the most significant. There are also several villages to the east of here. Most of them are along the main road that takes you to Invrisil if you follow it east far enough. As far as Vicker goes you've found the inn which is the most important part of any city. The adventurers guild and the runners guild are down the street to the west of here. You've been to the market, you've seen the palace. Like I said Lord Vicker is lord of the town but the day to day operations are handled by the city council. The council is headed by Lord Vicker and has a representative from the merchants and another from the artisans. The captain of the guard has a seat, and the last seat is voted in by the people. Well, now that I've talked your ears off, what can you tell me about yourselves? Where are you from? What brings you to the edge of civilization?" 

With those questions, Greg froze. They really should have come up with a story before walking into town. He was never a good liar and even worse when he was making it up on the spot. Luckily Jesse jumped in. 

“We’re originally from Terandria, we came into first landing a few months ago. We had a contract to track someone down. We chased him across an ocean but lost track of him west of here.”

That comment brought surprised looks from the rest of the group, but the innkeeper didn't seem to notice. With that, they finished their drinks bid the innkeeper a good night and headed up the stairs. 

“You going to let us know what any of that meant Jesse?

“We do have history books in the library. You should check them out.”

She laughed and went into her room.

The next morning the group was having breakfast when a man in a well-tailored robe walked into the in. He looked down his nose at the handful of patrons until his eyes landed on their table. He walked to them and cleared his throat, then spoke at them.

“You five, the [Grand Lord] Vicker, the hereditary lord of the magnificent city of Vicker has summoned you to his palace. You will make yourselves presentable and report immediately. Do not tarry." 

With that, the man turned and left. Moments after he left the innkeeper bustled over to them. 

“I would follow his advice and get to the palace in a hurry. The [Grand Lord] doesn't have a reputation for patience. Remember, he is lord of these lands, so it is best to show him the respect he demands." He leaned in and whispered, "He requires quite a bit of respect, best to grovel as much as you can." 

The group left the table and made their way upstairs. 

"Do we have anything 'more presentable'?" 

“Maybe we should show up in the adventuring gear?”

"It's probably the best we have." 

"Agreed. Let's meet downstairs in five?" 

They all changed, met in the common area, then headed out. Upon entering the palace, they were confronted by splendor. The floors were marble, and the two grand staircases leading up both sides of the entrance had a gold plated balustrade. Statues lined the walls, and a chandelier with glowing crystals hung above their heads. The man from earlier walked up to them, gave them each a once over, and sniffed. With that, he walked out of the lobby. 

“This way, best not keep the [Grand Lord] waiting any longer than you already have.”

With that, he led them through the house at a brisk pace. Kelly had to jog at points to keep up. They took several turns through ornate hallways and quickly made it to a sitting room. A tall man was standing with his back to them, looking into the fireplace. There was a boy who seemed to be about sixteen sitting on the couch. The man turned when he heard they had entered the room. He was tall, almost as tall as Joel. He had deep-set eyes and a thin beard that wrapped around his chin. He wore thick velvet robes and had gold chains hanging from his neck and gold rings on each finger. 

“At last, you are here. I am the [Grand Lord] Vicker. I have heard a new group of adventurers entered my city. I do hope you will cause no problems in your stay. Your lot tend to be troublesome. 

He waited as if he wanted them to confirm. Greg sputtered. 

"No my lord, we don't intend any trouble for you or your city. We're staying in the inn for the time being." 

"Yes, yes. I know where you are staying. I know everything you have done since entering my city. I'm sure you are wondering why you have been given the honor of my company. I was informed by the merchants guild that your brute there offered to sell his armor. As you can see, my son will soon be coming of age, and in a fit of youthful exuberance, he has pledged himself to become a knight." 

"Father, I will bring glory to our house, that is not just 'youthful exuberance.'" 

"Quiet boy. Now, since he has made the pledge, I cannot allow him to back out of it, but I can prepare him. Your armor, sword, and shield are, regrettably, finer than anything I have in my armory. I am willing to compensate you quite handsomely for the set. Since you already indicated you wanted to part ways with it, I'm sure we can come to an amicable agreement. I say that 1,000 gold is a fair price, I am sure you will agree." 

That brought surprised looks from all of the group. They had already heard that the set was worth much more than that. Greg stepped forward.

“My lord, while I have every hope that we can come to an agreement your offer does not come near the value of the set. We hope we can negotiate a higher price, say 10,000 gold?”

The lord laughed and took a glass of wine off the table.

"No boy, that will not work. I don't know where your children got your gear, but I know you didn't earn it. I can read your class, and your levels and none of you could have possibly earned what you are wearing. He does not even have a warrior class, what does a blacksmith need with that armor? You want to beggar me when I can just take it! No, you will take the thousand gold and consider yourselves lucky that I don’t take everything from you.”

Five [Guards] wearing full armor walked into the room and blocked the door. This time Joel stepped forward, raising up his hands in a placating gesture. 

“A compromise! The thousand gold and a right to land. There is a small mountain in the forest about 30 miles west of here. The land between that mountain and the river to the west of it. You grant us that land to found a village on it. It's not being used at all now. We can set up a village there and develop it. We would owe you taxes on the produce of the village. We get fair value for the armor, and you get a new source of income and can grow your power further west. Everybody wins!" 

“That sounds fair father." 

“I told you to be silent boy! You will get your land, but I will only give you five hundred gold to allow you to purchase supplies for your village. Know this, while the land will be in your name your ownership of it will only be through my grace. At any time I can pull it from you should you displease me. You had better show your ability to produce income for me soon, or you will find my grace short lived. Now, leave me. I tire of your presence. Leave my armor with my chamberlain." 

 

With that, the guards led the group out of the room and led them to the front door. Joel was stripped of his armor, and they were all virtually pushed through the entrance to the street. Greg looked over a Joel. 

“So does that make you a lord now? Good thinking anyway. I thought things were going to go south in a hurry in there. Anyway, let’s get back to the inn and get to planning. I have a feeling this tax we will owe to the [Grand Lord] will not be cheap. We need to come up with a way to keep him happy.”

They made their way back to the inn and found a secluded table where they could talk privately. Greg looked around at the shell-shocked faces at the table.

“So who knows that we need to create a village.”

“Villagers?”

Jesse’s comment got a round of laughs.

“Seriously though,” Greg said, “What do we need? Food, shelter, and water are the absolute necessities. We technically have all three of those in the bunker but do we want people to know about that. I have a feeling that Vicker will have us conveniently disappeared if he finds out about that.”

Joel nodded his head.

"I agree with that. We need to keep that a close secret but will need to let some people in. Particularly to get things started. So a village, we'll need houses and farms to start, right? Probably houses before farms. So we need somebody to build the houses. I'm guessing that's a class [Builder] or [Engineer] or something." 

"We also need to do something about those panther things." Mat chimed in. "We can't move anyone out there if they will all get eaten all the time. Maybe we can hire those adventurers to help us with that?”

“So the adventurers, a [Builder] or something similar, probably some people to help him. We'll need some supplies for building, a wagon for the supplies, and a horse to pull the wagon. Think we can afford all that?" 

“I imagine we'll have more than enough for that," Jesse interjected. "From what I've gathered even the five hundred gold has us with more money than most of this town…. City." 

Greg nodded. "Well, want to find those adventurers down at the guild. What were they? The Wild Hunt? After that, we can find some people to do some building for us. Maybe we can ask Almut?”

There were agreements all around, and the group got up and headed down the street to the guild. Once they entered the adventurers guild, they were greeted by a wide-eyed and enthusiastic [Receptionist]. As soon as they entered, she ran around the counter and only just held back from hugging Jesse. 

“New adventurers! It's been so long since we've had a new team in town. It's so boring! The only group we have in town now is the Wild Hunt, and they won't take any contracts!" 

This got some dirty looks from the adventurers sitting at a nearby table. The [Receptionist] seemed to realize her error, and her face went bright red. 

"Um… Anyway, I'm Jen, the [Receptionist for this guild. Do you want a form to sign up for any contracts? We’ve got some bandits around here that somebody needs to deal with.”

This time it was her giving the dirty looks and the Wild Hunt who looked sheepish.

“Actually we were hoping to have a conversation with our new friends over there.”

"Okay, I'll just be over here if you need anything. Let me know if you have any questions about our contracts or if you need to buy any supplies. We've got some quality potions!" 

They nodded to the [Receptionist] and made their way to the Wild Hunt. Greg sat down at the only open chair at the table, and the rest of the group took seats at the next table. 

“About that offer you made yesterday. We may be able to come to an agreement. We just finished negotiations for some land a ways west of here, and we'd like to clear some beasts out of the area. We'd like your help." 

Mary responded for the Wild Hunt. "We'd be honored to work with a team like yours. I should warn you though those bandits that chased us off are in that direction last we knew." 

“They, uh, shouldn't be a problem. We were hoping we could hire the Wild Hunt to guard the area we're going to. If I offered you ten gold right now, would that be enough for your group to consider yourselves hired for the next few weeks?" 

Mary's eyes went wide, and she gulped. She nodded. 

“Deal, when do we leave?”

“We’ve got a few more things to deal with here. Here, take the ten gold now and get your supplies.”

Joel leaned in from the next table, "Don't worry about upgrading any gear. We'll get you set up with that as soon as we get to where we're going." 

The nine of them got up and began to walk out of the room. The [Receptionist] came running over and got between them and the door. 

“Are you sure you don't want to take any contracts? We really need those bandits to be dealt with, and it will be expensive to bring people in if neither of your groups will do it." 

Greg smiled and turned to the rest of his group.

“Is there any kind of verification you need for us to prove it when the contract is fulfilled?”

"Well, usually there is, but I think we could take it on the honor of a group like yours." 

"Well then, I have some good news for you, Jen. We took care of those bandits on the way into town. You can consider that contract fulfilled." 

“Really? The guild master is going to be so happy! Wait here, and I'll get your payment." 

With that, she dashed away and came back a moment later with four gold in hand. Transaction completed the group went back out into the street. They decided to let Greg deal with Almut in the market while they accompanied Wild Hunt in their shopping. When they went to the market, they split off, and Greg approached Almut. 

“Good afternoon young adventurer. I was hoping I would get a chance to speak to one of your group. A [Traveling Merchant] came through this morning and bought all of those knives. I earned a healthy profit! I'm not sure where you got those, but if you can get your hands on more, I'd be glad to purchase them." 

“Give us a few weeks, and I'm sure we can come up with more of them. In fact, we'll likely want to deal with you regularly. That brings me around to want I actually wanted to talk about. It seems that Lord Victor got word that my friend was willing to sell his armor." 

Almut looked a bit abashed at that comment, but Greg just raised his hand to signal there were no hard feelings. 

"Instead of receiving full payment for the armor we have negotiated the sale of some land some ways west of here for development into a village. To develop that land we'll need some experts in construction and labor to build some houses and other buildings in the area. We're hoping you would have the contacts in town to lead us to the appropriate people in the artisans guild." 

“Indeed, my boy, congratulations on your acquisition. It's an ambitious project to found a village. Especially further west than here but I suppose it was only a matter of time before we humans began to expand in that direction. I can help you with an introduction to the artisan's guild. In fact, I see that introduction walking through the square right now." "Michael!" He yelled across the square. "A moment please, I'd like you to meet my new friend." 

A gray-haired old man wearing a dusty apron hobbled over to them with a friendly smile on his face. 

“Michael, this is my new acquaintance, Greg. Greg, this is Michael, a master [Sculptor] and the head of the city’s artisan’s guild. Michael, Greg, and his group have recently acquired some land to found a village west of here. They were hoping to hire the appropriate people to help them with the construction of their village. I'm hoping you can help us out with this request." 

"Of course Greg, the Vicker artisans guild would be happy to assist in your endeavor. Of course, the city will need its masters of craft, but we do seem to have a surplus of apprentices at the moment. It will, of course, require some remuneration to their masters to steal them away for your needs." 

After about an hour of advising, negotiation, and thirty gold coins in compensation Greg's new village employed eight new apprentice craftsmen including; two [Carpenters], two [Stonemasons], three [Builders], and an [Engineer]. In addition, they drafted ten [Laborers] to do the grunt work for their craftsmen. For an additional ten gold coins, Greg also purchased a wagon full of supplies, food, and a horse to pull it. Michael promised everyone would be ready to set out in the morning. 

Greg made his way back to the inn. He found his friends at the bar already in their cups with the Wild Hunt. He joined them, and the two groups grew closer as the night went on through generous amounts of eating and drinking. 

The next morning the two groups met with eighteen strangers, a horse, and a wagon. 

"Well, westward ho!" Mat said and chuckled and began walking. 

The group followed behind him heading back to their new home.


	5. Homecoming

5

The trip back to the bunker was relatively uneventful. Once the [Engineer], Elizabeth, began to lay out plans to create a temporary shelter that could house the 27 people present. As she began to hand out orders, Greg held his hand up to stop everyone. 

“Before we begin work we have something to show you. Now, before we show you this, we need everyone to vow to secrecy on what they see today." 

Everyone present gave some form of assent which Greg figured was a good as he was going to get.

“Now if everyone would follow me.”

After speaking Greg promptly turned around and walked through the stone face of the cliff. There was a round of gasps as all of the new hires gave each other shocked looks. The rest of his group ushered the others through the hidden door and followed him inside. They walked down the stairs and gathered everyone in the lounge. Greg gave a brief description of the bunker then they split up into groups to give a tour of the place. Soon, the tour was over, and they had everyone gathered in the cafeteria ready to eat the massive feast that Jesse had seemed to conjure out of thin air. 

“It’s amazing how quickly you can get all this food prepared, Jesse. This soup is delicious, I don’t think I’ve ever had a soup like this.”

“Thanks, Mary, it's a skill I have to get food made this fast." 

“So what's the plan now? I imagine that you'll want the Wild Hunt out tomorrow hunting down the monsters in the area. Given the area and what I've heard Greg talking about I think you're talking about night lions, and probably a few other nasty critters around here. We can set up a patrol if that's what you want, Greg." 

“Yea, that sounds like a good plan. Also, Elizabeth, let's start planning on what you want to get to work on tomorrow. I just wanted to show you this place before you rushed getting a housing structure built." 

After that, the groups split off and began planning for the next day. Elizabeth came over, and Mat set out a large piece of paper on the table, and they started coming up with design plans for their new town. First, they decided on building a keep around the door to the bunker and against the cliff wall. It wasn't going to be some vast castle, but it was going to be a defensible stone structure that was large enough to hold everyone they thought might eventually live in the town should there be some kind of emergency. Next, they decided that the center of the village should be at the bottom of the hill by the pond. They would have a market square similar to the one in Vicker next to the lake. Roads would lead out from the square from its corners, creating a grid for the town to build on as it grew. Elizabeth marked a large building next to the square that she designated as a place for the people to gather. Next to that building, she marked down an identically sized building that she said would be used for storage. She drew the road out to the north, explaining that it would go out to the plains where the farms would be. There she marked down several areas for farmhouses as well as a couple of grain silos. They agreed the farmhouses should be built first as those would need to be done before they could bring in some farmers and get the villages food production up and running. Elizabeth called for another piece of paper and began sketching out a design for the farmhouses. Joel got a slightly confused look on his face when all of the rooms were laid out.

“Where are the bathrooms?”

“This is a farmhouse, not some lord’s manor.” Elizabeth laughed.

“So where are they going to, you know, go?”

“The outhouse or the latrine like everyone else in town of course.”

At this, Mat's eyebrows raised. 

“You’re saying this town won’t have plumbing?”

“The whole town? Is that even possible? I don’t even know how we would do that.”

At this Mat leaned back with a ponderous look on his face. He didn't really know how plumbing worked. He had a vague idea, but nothing specific. The group began debating how they could make plumbing work. They knew they needed a water tower to provide pressure, so Elizabeth designed one on top of the keep. They would also need to have the water purified and pumped from the river. Mat believed he could create some enchantments that could do both. They would also need a substantial amount of pipe for the water. They looked to Joel to see if he could make the pipe. He just laughed.

“If we had the next few years, sure. I can make some, but we'll need some outside help to get that much. Also, not to be indelicate, but right now, Mat and I are the only ones pulling in any income. We'll need to keep the [Grand Lord] happy, so I think I need to focus on income for the time being." 

Nobody could really argue with that. They decided that until they got some crops growing to produce some income for the town, Joel would need to focus on things that could bring in some money. They could try to use some of that income to buy some pipe from vendors in town or possibly some of the traveling merchants would be able to get them some. 

They decided that they would just build the buildings now with the plans to get them hooked up to the plumbing system in the future. Joel would make enough pipe to fit the houses from the street, but they would put off plumbing the whole town for a future date. 

Meanwhile, Mary was going over how to hunt the Night Lions with the Wild Hunt when Kelly approached them.

“Um… Hi…. Do you uh think that I could maybe go out with you on your patrol tomorrow?”

“Of course, we’d be honored to have an adventurer as successful as you with us.”

“Oh, about that I’m not an adventurer, um, none of us are.”

“Then where did you get all that gear. Are you just rich?”

“No, Oh, we didn't show you the storage area by the entrance, did we? You can see it if you want? Greg, do you think they could use some of the gear up there?" 

Greg agreed, and they escorted the wild hunt to the stored gear. 

“This is amazing!” Mary exclaimed.

"Yes, this armor will suit me nicely. 

Vinnick walked up to a suit of armor that was on a mannequin and was gazing at it admiringly. 

"Um, I'm thinking that for the time being, we'll equip you guys with the gear over here on the shelves. We don't want word on any of the gear on the mannequins getting out until we’re more set up here.”

“Fitting that you keep this to yourself. You seek to keep us ill-equipped, but you want us to fight for you." 

“Calm down Vinnik, these are our employers remember. Also, they’re offering to equip us with gear that it would have taken us years to save up for at the rate we were going.”

That rebuke seemed to mollify Vinnik, and the Wild Hunt began picking through the gear on the shelves. Soon, both Vinnik and Seth were wearing a full set of steel plate armor. Vinnik had a large steel kite shield and had selected a steel spear from the rack. Seth spent his time perusing the weapons area until his eyes alighted on two large battleaxes. Kelly was pretty sure that she couldn't lift one of those axes, but Seth was swinging one in each hand with surprising ease. Mary was wearing an excellent set of leather armor and was testing the draw of a new bow. Senlut was wearing a set of leather armor that was dyed black, and a pair of long knives strapped to her waist which she was testing how quickly she could brandish. She also had a bandolier across her chest, holding throwing knives. Mary appraised her team after they were all outfitted and smiled. 

“I’d say we were a silver rank team at least if I didn’t know our levels!”

“Indeed, I think we’re ready for some hunting.”

Seth laughed and shook his head.

“I’m too drunk to do any fighting tonight, I’m also planning on getting more drunk before I sleep tonight. Speaking of which let’s go back downstairs. We’ll be ready in the morning.”

With that, they joined the others in the cafeteria. Before too long people began making their way to bed. 

The next morning Jesse was up early preparing bacon and eggs for the large group of people that she knew were going to be hung over and ravenous. Now that she was making so much food, she was genuinely grateful for her skill. It still amazed her that she was able to produce this much food with so little effort. She just started cooking, and without needing to think about it, she moved expertly around the kitchen. Soon, everyone was in the cafeteria, eating away their hangovers. As the laborers were getting ready to head out to their tasks, Greg summoned ten rock sprites to follow and protect them. The Wild Hunt followed the laborers out, and Mary called back before she left the room. 

“We'll keep our patrols close the laborers today. Hopefully, we'll soon have the area clear enough that they don't need close protection. After that, we can range out and make the entire area safe for villagers." 

“Thanks, Mary."   
Greg called out and was surprised when Kelly slipped out of the room behind the adventurers. He gave Jesse a look who had noticed as well, but she just shrugged. Mat and Joel also made out of the cafeteria on their way back to the forge. They were whispering between themselves as they left. That left just Greg and Jesse in the cafeteria when Jesse sighed and looked at Greg. 

“You just had to send all of your sprites out with the laborers, didn't you? I guess I need to clean up now." 

Greg laughed and helped her clean up the empty plates. She shooed him away after the dishes were in the sink and got to scrubbing while he went into the library to do some studying. 

Kelly felt out of place. The Wild Hunt were moving relatively well as a team while she blundered her way through the forest behind them. They stayed to the deer paths, so it wasn't like they were cutting through the brush or anything, but she wasn't used to this type of hiking. She had spent her entire life in the city before being placed in this world. Even so, she was determined to keep up with the more experienced adventurers. She did know that she would be sore that night. 

Mary and Senlut occasionally exchanged hand signals that she couldn't follow. Everyone else seemed to understand what the non-verbal communication was about, but she had no idea. She just did what she was told and stuck behind Seth and Vinnik. Senlut would on occasion disappear from view only to reappear from out of nowhere. Kelly was amazed at how quietly she moved through the trees even when she was off the path. They walked through the forest for most of the morning. Mary and Senlut silent while Vinnik and Seth rattled around and Kelly seemed to find every twig to step on. After a couple of hours, Senlut appeared in front of them and made a few gestures to Mary. Mary fell back and whispered. 

“Three Night Lions are resting in their den about a hundred yards that way. Senlut is going to draw them to us. Once they're in the clearing, she and I will try to take them out with arrows. Kelly, you do what you can. Vinnik, Seth, you step in if they get close to us." 

Soon Senlut was out of view, and Kelly began panicking. What was she doing here? She wasn't a warrior, and she didn't know if she could help her new companions. She had just learned about magic, and in a rash decision last night she had decided she might use it to be an adventurer. Now that she was out here, she realized that she was now in real danger. She had never really been in this kind of danger before coming to this world. After the battle with the bandits, she had felt shocked and somewhat disgusted with herself. However, deep down, she had thought the fights she was in on the way to Vicker were the most exciting things she had ever done. That excitement is what led her to volunteer to be out here with the Wild Hunt. That adrenaline rush was the first time in her life her self-conscious didn't overwhelm her thoughts. It was almost relieving to be afraid of death rather than being fearful of everything, but now she was worried that her thrill-seeking would get her companions killed. 

Kelly was relieved of her introspection when Senlut came running into the clearing with three monsters on her tail. One was the size of the beast that they had fought before, and the other two were somewhat smaller. Mary released an arrow that lodged itself into one of the beast's shoulders. It roared but didn't stop charging. Senlut turned around and threw a knife at a lion. Her rushed throw missed everything, and she had to give more ground as the lions charged in toward the group. They were about ten yards away when Kelly put up a force barrier in front of them, and she used another to push them down to the ground. Seth didn't hesitate. He nearly beat the arrow from Mary to the constrained monsters. Then he was in the middle of the three of them, Vinnik not far behind. His axes crashed down on one monster repeatedly. The beast cried out as the axes cut into it. The other two leaped into the force barrier to get away and broke free. Vinnik rushed in behind Seth and put his spear into the stomach of the lion still pinned down he then crashed his shield down on the animal. The remaining two were rushing at Mary, who was backpedaling and drawing her bow. She got one shot off, but it only grazed the beast. Kelly put a force barrier in front of Mary to shield her, and when one lion crashed into it, she cast a sticky web on it. She turned to the other one and cast an electric jolt at it. The beast was stunned, so Kelly followed up with a series of stone darts. Several of them crashed into the animal, and it fell and stopped moving. She turned back around and found that the lion caught in the sticky web was being finished off by Senlut, who was standing over the beast. 

The five of them stood panting, looking through the trees scanning for any more danger. When it became clear they were in no danger, Mary walked over and put her arm around Kelly. 

“Nice work! That could have gone poorly without you here. See guy’s, we just needed a mage to round out our team. I think we can handle anything now! Let go get some lunch then we can head back out. Get what pelt we can from these three before we leave.”

Kelly didn’t respond other than a slight nod. The praise she received did go a long way in relieving her insecurity from before the battle. Her heart had almost slowed back down to normal by the time they got back to the bunker. Jesse congratulated them on their hunt and fed them lunch before they went back out into the forest. 

They restarted their circle around where the laborers were working. Kelly was really starting to wonder if she could stay out all afternoon. She really needed to get into shape. Deciding there was no time better to get into shape that right then she resolved to persevere. A couple of hours later, they heard a shout ring out through the forest from the laborer's direction. They all rushed to the source of the yell crashing through the foliage. When they got there, they found a laborer (Kelly really needed to learn their names) on the ground, fending off a wolf. The wolf had the man's leg in its maw and was wringing its head back and forth as if trying to rip the man's leg off.

Another wolf was dodging away from the man as he swung a stick at it. There were several other wolves that Kelly could see running through the trees around them. When they ran out of the forest to join the attack, Kelly was surprised when ten rock sprites ran out from the other side of the clearing and crashed into the wolves. Suddenly there was a battle in front of them. The golems held their shields and thrust spears at the wolves, but it looked like they were having trouble landing hits. One wolf crashed straight into a sprite and ran right through it. The rocks sprayed away from the crash, and the sprite was no more. Kelly stood there, shocked, for just a moment until she was shaken into motion by a battle cry from Seth. She put a force barrier in front of the laborer who had taken a bite. Then she started casting stone darts, electric jolts, and fire orbs at the wolves who were racing about the clearing. Mary put an arrow in the chest of a wolf which knocked it out of the fight.

Three wolves managed to get Seth on the ground, and they were working to find a way around or through his armor. They tugged at the back of his helmet when Vinnik rushed in to help his comrade and stabbed into a wolf with his spear. Senlut also rushed in and took out another wolf with two well-placed knife strikes. Kelly alternated between casting stone darts and erecting force barriers to keep the remaining wolves at bay. The wolves were running in circles around the group occasionally dashing in when they saw a clearing. Kelly focused on getting barriers in front of any wolves that moved in for the attack. She looked over and saw that, but they had taken out three wolves themselves. Then, almost as quickly as it had begun the remaining wolves turned and disappeared into the forest. Once they knew the area was clear, Mary yelled out. 

 

“Seth, you okay? Someone get Hammond a healing potion. That bite looked pretty bad." 

Hammond. Kelly willed herself to commit that to memory as she rushed over with a potion. She poured in on his arm and saw a look of relief come over his face.

“Thank you so much for coming to my aid! I thought I was a goner.”

Kelly just smiled and nodded as Vinnik helped the man to his feet. Elizabeth, followed by the rest of the laborers armed with axes and pickaxes rushed into the clearing. She looked around, and once she had taken the measure of the situation seemed obviously relieved. 

“Oh, that's a relief. I came here expecting the worst, and here I am with my team safe and sound thanks to you, Wild Hunt, and, apparently the sprites." 

She smiled and sat down on the stump of a newly cut tree. She pulled out a pipe, lit it, and sat back with a sigh.

“We’ve got enough lumber and stone to keep the [Carpenters] and [Stonemasons] busy for a day or two. Let’s get you lot back in the bunker for now. We’ll figure out some work for you in the morning. In the meantime, drinks are on me.”

“We’re supposed to pay for our drinks?”

“That’s why they’re on me dear, now let’s get inside before something else can try to eat us.”

As everyone was filing away, Mary walked over to Kelly. 

“Good work again. One thing you may want to keep an eye on though is your mana usage. You were flinging spells around back there fast and furious. We need you to be able to keep something back so that you’re still able to help if a battle goes long.”

“It’s, um, not much of a problem. I have a skill. It’s [Endless Mana]. It's a unique skill, and I've never felt like I was even close to running out." 

Mary's eyes went wide, and she pulled Kelly away from the group. 

"That's an awesome skill, and I'm now even gladder you're working with our team, but I feel I should warn you that you shouldn't be telling people about it. I don't know about where you're from, but around here it's best for adventurers to keep those types of things under wrap. Also, once you get to high levels, it's best to keep that secret as well. I got the impression that your group doesn't want too much attention, and that's a skill that will draw attention." 

Kelly nodded, and they both moved back into the group. Now, Kelly was worried again. She spent most of her life without much in the way of social skills and now she was in a whole new world in which the rules of etiquette may be entirely different than what she was used to. This really wasn't going to help her social anxiety. 

The Wild Hunt escorted the others back to the bunker then resumed their patrol. Elizabeth led her group down to the lounge and found Greg there reading.

“Hey folks, done for the day? Everyone productive today?”

“Well, we were until we had a pack of wolves attack." 

“Wolves? Is everyone okay?”

“Yea, the Wild Hunt was there in time. We’re calling it a day though. We’ve got a pile of wood and stone outside. We’ll need to get the [Carpenters] and [Stonemasons] set up somewhere tomorrow. We’ll also need to figure out how to guard both them and [Laborers].”

“We can keep them inside for the time being. I can have my sprites bring stuff down to the great room for now. Is this all of them?”  
Greg gestured to the four remaining rock sprites. Elizabeth nodded and sighed. Greg summoned six sprites and ordered all ten to assist the laborers in getting the material into the great room. He opened his book to begin reading again then looked up at Elizabeth.

“Have you checked our library for any engineering books? There are all kinds of books in there. Some of them may help you level.”

Elizabeth raised her eyebrow, then left the room. Soon she was back with a book in hand. She sat down next to Greg on the couch, and both of them spent the next several hours reading. 

Mat and Joel spent the day making knives. More specifically, Mat spent the day studying his enchanting books while occasionally enchanting a blade. It was almost time to enchant Joel's final knife of the day when Mat found something potentially groundbreaking in his book. He found a diagram for a mana storage crystal that was essentially a mana battery used in enchanting. The diagram looked remarkably like the crystal that was sitting in the room next door. He checked Joel's progress, saw he had a bit of time then went into what he was now sure was an enchanting room. He focused on his mana, then concentrated on pouring it into the crystal. The crystal sucked up everything he put into it and began to emit a dull glow. He poured everything he could into it, then drank a mana potion, and poured all he could into the crystal yet again. He downed another mana potion, then waited for Joel to finish his knife. Soon enough, Joel was finished, and Mat had him pass the blade through the window into the enchanting room. He quickly took the knife to the table in the center to the room and set it down. He focused on channeling his mana through the crystal and cast a new enchantment he had learned. He hadn't thought he would be able to use it as it required more mana than he could use in one sitting but with the crystal he was able to complete the enchantment. Once done, the knife began to shine with a blue glow. He smiled and showed the knife to Joel. 

“That’s awesome man, you learned a new spell? What’s the deal with the table?

“Yea, I learned it today. I didn’t think I’d be able to use it but the crystal under the table stores mana! I should be able to pull off more complicated enchantments with this.”

“Nice, I’m going to start working on iron or steel pretty soon if my levels go up. We’ll need that to earn some more money at the market.”

“Yea, also, next time we're in town I should ask around to see what enchantments would get the best prices. Really, I should have asked the last time we were there." 

They returned to the lounge and found Greg and Elizabeth on a couch reading. Mat pulled out a deck of cards and offered a game to the other three gathered. They all agreed, and Mat began explaining the rules of his made-up game to Elizabeth. 

“Do you want to know how to actually play with those?” Elizabeth asked with a grin.

“That sounds like a better plan." 

They played for a while until the Wild Hunt trudged back down the stairs. Seth flopped down on the first couch he came to and groaned in exhaustion. The sofa creaked in protest due to his large size and weight as he was still decked out head to toe in armor. Mary snapped her fingers at him. 

“Hey get off the furniture until you’ve got your armor off. Go get cleaned up. All of you. Good work today.”

Vinnik helped Seth off the couch, and the group left the room. Soon they were back with a change of clothes. This time Seth sat a bit more gingerly and sighed as he sat back. 

"Oh man, I'm tired. I haven't put in a day like that I quite some time. All those pelts should earn us a pretty penny though.”

“Agreed, a few more days like that and we’ll all be in shape.”, Mary agreed, “I have a feeling we’ll all be leveling tonight! I’d say it’ll take at least a couple more weeks to clear the area what do you think Senlut?”

“It will take some time. There were many tracks of different beasts in the forest. We will need to work hard to get this area settled for habitation. For tonight though I’m just looking forward to some food, yes?

Soon, they all smelled the enticing aroma coming from the kitchen. They filed into the cafeteria and found most of the laborers already there. They were all huddled around a table murmuring. Elizabeth shouldered them out of the way to see what they were looking at.

“What is that? I’ve never seen a dish like it.”

Greg caught a view of what they were talking about and gave Jesse a high five.

"Pizza! Nice, I can't wait." 

“Pizza? I’ve never heard of this. Is it common on Terrandria?

“Um…. Not so much, it’s more of a thing in uh my hometown.”

The food was a hit. Soon, the group had polished of nine pizzas and were sitting back holding their full stomachs. They sat around sharing stories from the day until people started nodding off. Eventually, everyone had made it to their beds. 

 

[Blacksmith level 4]

 

[Cook level 5]  
[Skill – Delicious Concoctions]

[Golemancer level 5]  
[Spell Learned – Create Golem]  
[Skill – Metal Constructs]

[Mage level 6]

[Enchanter level 4]


	6. An Unexpected Outing

6

The next few weeks were spent with everyone hard at work. The Wild Hunt spent every day ranging the area hunting down night lions, wolves, and various other dangerous critters. Kelly was beginning to feel like she was becoming a valuable member of the team. She was starting to understand the hand signals Mary gave and was able to move more in sync with the rest of the group. Of course, if she had asked Mary how she thought Kelly was doing Mary would have insisted that she was more than just a passing member of the team. She would have mentioned that the last group of night lions they came across were handled entirely by Kelly before the rest of the team even needed to lift a finger. Or, she would have pointed out the several times she had saved another member of the group. Of course, Kelly didn't ask anyone about this as she was too shy to do so. So instead, she resolved herself to work and study even harder so that she could prove her worth. When they weren't on patrol, she was practicing her spellcraft in the great room, battling Greg's golems, or deep in study. Her example drove the rest of the Wild Hunt to work even harder themselves. They had all leveled at least twice over the three weeks and spent their off hours honing their skills. They also did drills together to improve their teamwork and cohesion. They had also gathered an impressive amount of pelts that were currently piled up in the cellar of the kitchen. Mary had explained the nature of the preservation runes in that room, so they figured that the room would prevent the pelts from rotting. Still, Jesse was getting more and more disturbed by the growing pile in her cellar. 

Joel and Mat continued their work in their craft. Joel switched his focus from bronze knives on to iron. They took a little more time and significantly more effort, but Joel hoped they would return more money for them once they got back to Almut. Mat spent his days pouring his mana into the crystal, studying, and enchanting Joel's work. He had learned several new enchantments, but for most of the knives, he just put the durability enchantment on them. Glowing knives were cool and all, but he thought a durability enhancement was more useful for the average person. They also had a growing pile of knives ready for sale. 

Jesse was busy nearly all of the time. Making food for this many people really was a full-time job. When she wasn't cooking, she was cleaning. Of course, Greg offered the help of his golems to aid her work, and they were the only way she could keep the kitchen and cafeteria clean. She had created many earth dishes, and while not all of them were hits, the people from this world were entranced by her cooking. While everyone else's stockpiles were growing, Jesse was becoming worried about their food stocks. There was still plenty of food in the cellar and cupboards the variety was beginning to dwindle. Soon, they would be down to just staples. 

Greg really didn't have much to work on. His golems were helping out Jesse and Elizabeth's group. It took substantially more mana to create a full golem, but they were much more able than the smaller sprites he had been building. They were fully man-sized creations. When he didn't have them sparring against the Wild Hunt and Kelly, he had them out helping the laborers. One of the laborers, Kevin, had earned some levels in mining and had received a skill that let him find ore veins. They had found a pretty substantial iron vein, and with Greg's golems, they were bringing in more Iron than Joel could use. Greg spent nearly all of his free time studying. The more he learned about golems, the more fascinated he was. It was amazing to him that he could create these automatons that did his bidding. They had always been his "dream" magic when he read fantasy stories. He had always fantasized about what using magic would be like but never wanted to be a flashy fire mage or some creepy necromancer. He could create golems to protect himself, his friends, and they could do his work for him. His studies led him to believe that once he got enough levels, he could create golems for a specific purpose, and then he wouldn't need to keep them under his control. This village could have hundreds of golems helping out with the labor. 

Elizabeth had her people working hard and making progress. They had two farmhouses built as well as one silo. They also had the beginnings of the keep built. Once the farmhouses had been constructed, Mat went through and placed enchantments on everything he could. The doors and windows were sturdier, the roof was more resistant to weather. He had also found a preservation enchantment in his studies. It was a lesser preservation effect than the ones in the bunker. The enchantments wouldn't keep food indefinitely, but the cupboards in the farmhouses could now keep food much longer than mundane storage. He also put the same enchantments on the silos. Elizabeth also had the gathering hall nearly finished and was expecting to be done within the next week. The stonemasons were working hard to turn all of the quarried rock into stone bricks for the central square they were planning. The laborers were also leveling. Instead of general laborers, they had two [woodcutters], four [miners], and four [builders]. Everyone, including Elizabeth, was leveling rapidly. Since they were all young apprentices, they had expected to spend several more years studying under their masters, and they also ran the risk of getting dropped from their apprenticeship. Since they were all sold off, it was likely that many of them were running the risk of losing their apprenticeships. Instead, they were out here and getting hands experience and leveling. 

Late into the fourth week since their return, the Wild Hunt had the area around town clear enough that the [woodcutters] could work with just the golem protection. It was late in the afternoon when one of the woodcutters came running back into camp. He ran up to Elizabeth. 

“Soldiers are coming. I couldn’t tell how many but it was a lot of them. It looks like they’re from Vicker.”

“Go and get everyone out of the bunker. We don’t want them finding out about that.”

He quickly disappeared behind the cliff wall, and soon, everyone was filing out of the bunker. They all went down to the nascent town square and waited for the soldiers. It wasn't a long wait. There were fifty soldiers in total, all wearing the heraldry of Vicker. There were ten mounted men, and everyone else was on foot. One of the mounted men was wearing a shining suit of armor that looked familiar to Joel. After all, he had just sold it for the land they were standing on. The man in the armor lifted the visor on his helmet and revealed the [Grand Lord] Vicker's son. 

“I am [Lord] Vicker, I have been sent here by your sovereign the [Grand Lord] to review your progress and to collect your taxes. So far, I must say I am unimpressed. Where is the industry? Where are the peasants? I see a couple of buildings, but your farms lay fallow. You were given this land to produce income for my father. I see little hope of you doing so from what I see here." 

The boy got off his horse, set his helmet on the pommel, then sauntered over to the group. He looked down his nose at everyone then sneered in Greg’s face. 

“You're not here to laze about. You are expected to produce for your Lord, and you are at the limit of our generosity." 

Greg was taken aback. This pompous little kid was acting like they should have the village up and running already. His father had to know they wouldn’t be up and running yet. Certainly not enough to pay taxes already. What was the game here? Why send his kid to collect money anyway? From everything he had seen, the kid acted like a spoiled brat, and his father acted like he knew his kid was incompetent. Still, Greg knew he couldn't mouth off to this little punk given the fact that there were fifty men with swords standing behind him. 

“My Lord, we are progressing as fast as we can manage. We have been here for less than four weeks, and we are already prepared to bring in some farmers to sow our fields. If you could only give us some more time, we will have this land producing income to your father." 

“Stop with your excuses. You obviously aren’t working your peasants hard enough to get the results you need. Bring them to me. I will have my soldiers whip them to let them know not to dawdle. You will see a hard hand is necessary to properly control the rabble.”

What? Did this kid really expect him to hand people over to be whipped? They were his employees, potentially subjects, not slaves. Greg’s mind was racing trying to figure out a way to get out of this situation diplomatically. What would happen when he just outright refused? He doubted this boy had the authority to do this, but with his men backing him, Greg really couldn't do anything too rash. He was just getting ready to try to say something placating when another soldier walked up beside the young [Lord]. 

“My Lord, you cannot do this. This is not the village we were sent to collect from. They clearly have no taxes to pay. This was a simple task your father sent you on, and if you do this, you will draw his ire." 

“Do not give orders to me! You are not my father!”

The kid was shrieking now. He tried to push the other man but only managed to push himself backward. The man just sighed and turned to Greg. 

“I suppose there isn’t anything to pay taxes on at the moment if I’m correct?”

"We have some stuff we're planning on selling at the market, but we need to actually get to the market first." 

The man nodded. He held his finger up to the little [Lord] before he could start another tirade.

“You will get as much product as you can to market as soon as you can. Set out today. When you sell those goods, you will make sure the [Grand Lord] Vicker gets his due. [Lord] Vicker, you will see these people off and know that you have gotten your father the tax he is due earlier than he expected it. We can then move on to the village we were supposed to go to." 

The young man's face turned red, but he did finally take a deep breath and nod. 

“Fine, but he has to come with us to see how an Elderman properly treats his lord.”

Greg didn't think it was prudent to argue. He followed the [Lord] back to his men and prepared himself for a hike to the next town. He moved over to the man who had come to his aid as the soldiers started to march.

“Hi there, my names Greg. I just wanted to thank you for stepping in back there. I’m not sure what would have happened if you hadn’t calmed things down.”

“Sir Beltham, you'll need to forgive the young [Lord] Vicker. He can be quick to anger much like his father, and unfortunately, he doesn't have the wisdom of age to temper his wrath. I hoped that taking him as my squire would put some discipline into him." 

“How’s that going?” Greg asked with a chuckle.

“Yes, well… His being my squire seems to be superseded by his being my Lord. Unfortunately, the only authority he will listen to is his father's." 

That didn’t fill Greg with a whole lot of confidence given his previous interaction with the [Grand Lord]. Still, he was surprised the man was willing to speak so frankly about the young [Lord]. 

“I have had a chance to feel his father’s wrath. I’m not so sure that age has tempered it all that much.”

“I'll warn you, young man, I am sworn to the [Grand Lord's] service. I can speak more freely about the young man over there as I am not sworn to him. However, it would stain my honor to allow you to besmirch my liege." 

Greg gave the man a conciliatory gesture, and they continued the march. Eventually, night fell, and the group made camp. The soldiers set up tents while Greg stood around awkwardly. It looked like he may be sleeping out in the open. The soldiers also set up a significantly larger tent and soon the [Lord] was set up in it and drinking wine. A couple of soldiers came over to Greg and offered him a tent and some stew. However, the [Lord] saw this and yelled out. 

“No! His hovel hasn't paid its taxes, so he doesn't get to receive supplies from our army. Do not feed him or give him a tent!" 

Greg tried not to laugh at the pettiness. He was halfway between amused and outraged. He just shrugged and found a tree trunk to lie against. He was hungry, but he'd worry about that in the morning. It was a couple of hours later, after the [Lord] had gone to sleep, that Beltham came over with a bowl of stew and a blanket. Greg thanked the man who just nodded and walked back to his tent. Greg woke up in the early morning when a soldier was spiriting away the blanket before the brat could see they had helped him out. Soon, they were back on the march. 

It was nearly two days before the nearest village came into view along a riverbank. There wasn't much to the village. Just a string of houses along the river, mostly populated by fisherman. This place wasn't situated on any major roads, so there was no inn. Just houses, barns, and a small bar that served the patrons of the village with a weak and stale ale. It was early evening when the soldiers marched into the town. The villagers went wide-eyed at the group soldiers, and a couple ran into the bar. They were quickly replaced by an older man who stumbled out of the bar with a mug in his hand. 

“Who'r you all. What do you want with Eel's Bend?" 

The young [Lord] dismounted, took his helmet off and strode over to the drunken man. He looked the man up and down and gave him his characteristic sneer.

"Do you not recognize your Lord, man. Bring me your Elderman!" 

"That'ch me, M'Lord." 

The man bowed, faceplanted, then struggled back to his feet.”

“Fitting, you filth would select a drunkard to be your Elderman. I am here to collect your taxes. Bring them to me with haste. I don’t want to spend any more time in this filthy place than I have to.”

“Of course M’Lord, right away.”

The man stumbled back into the bar and was soon back out with a small canvas pouch in hand. He gave it to the [Lord] and bowed again, more successfully this time. 

“This? This is all you offer for your tribute? It’s not even worth my time to crawl out to this forsaken place to retrieve this tiny amount.”

The man clasped his hands together and bowed again.

“M’Lord, that is the agreed amount that Eel’s Bend is set to pay. It’s all we have.”

“Nonsense, you will give me more, or my men will find it." 

“I tell you, truly, M'Lord. We've got little in this town. None of us have more than the clothes on our backs and the fish we sell to the market." 

“Men! Search the town, bring me anything of value.”

The soldiers just milled about for a moment, then looked to Sir Beltham. He just looked down at the ground with a stern look on his face, but he didn't countermand the order. 

“Go!”

[Lord] Vicker screamed at his men, and they all rushed to follow his orders. Soon the street was empty of soldiers, and there were muffled yells coming out of many of the houses. It was just the young [Lord], Sir Beltham, Greg, and the flabbergasted Elderman on the street for over ten minutes. Greg already didn't like this bastard, but he was aghast at what he saw now. These people were supposed to be under the protection of the soldiers, not harassed by them. Suddenly Greg saw a group of children in the dusk at the end of the street. It was odd because it looked like the children were armed. They also appeared to be a bit disproportionate though he couldn't make them out clearly. Sir Beltham ran in front of them. 

“Goblins! Soldiers! Form in the street!”

Suddenly there were nearly fifty of the little goblins in the street in front of him. [Lord] Vicker began to backpedal. 

“Retreat! Run!”  
The detestable kid turned and ran down the street in the direction opposite of the goblins.

“Stay with us [Lord] Vicker! We are safest in formation.”

The kid continued to run away, his armor gleaming orange in the sunset. The soldiers had begun to file into the street. Just in time to form a line in front of the charging goblins. Sounds of battle, grunts, and screams of pain soon filled the street. Greg looked behind again and saw the kid in armor still running away. However, he saw another group of about fifty goblins enter the road directly in front of the [Lord]. Sir Belmont's eyes went wide, and he charged after the young man all the while screaming for his men to form another line. Vicker skidded to a stop, turned, and began to run back to the group. He wasn't fast enough. The goblins soon overwhelmed him. They struck at him from all sides, but his expensive armor weathered all of the blows. However, they were soon climbing all over the kid and quickly had him wrestled to the ground. They continued to beat on him which had little effect but then they started to pull on his gear trying to rip it off of him. They quickly got his helmet off, and Greg saw one Goblin running away with the piece of armor that was worth a king's ransom. Another got his greaves and ran away. The others were still beating on the kid, and Joel saw a club come down hard on Vicker's head. 

Realizing he should probably be doing something Joel Quickly started summoning rock golems from the stones nearby. He downed a mana potion he had stored on his belt and began summoning more golems. Soon he had his creations charging off to help the little brat. Sir Belmont was already there. Greg was amazed at the man. He charged into the goblins and was death incarnate. He moved faster than Greg thought possible. He cut one goblin down, then was suddenly ten paces away cutting down another. Soon the goblins began to shy away from this monster of the battlefield. He stood over the [Lord] and cut down any goblin that came near him. Then, Greg's golems smashed into the goblins. His rock creations towered over the little creatures and were made from solid stone. Their charge had a significant amount of mass behind it and knocked aside the goblins like bowling pins. They crashed their fists down on goblin heads, picked them up and threw them, and were nearly impervious to any attack the goblins could dish out. Then, more soldiers rushed into the fray, and the goblins began to fall back. Then it was a rout, followed by a full retreat. Soon, it was just soldiers on the street. 

The young [Lord] Vicker was still on the ground. He had a nasty gash on his head and was moving weakly. His arm was also pretty badly broken. Belmont grabbed the boy's arm and straightened it out to the best of his ability then poured a healing potion on his head. He didn't pour anything on the kid's arm, but Greg did see that it also seemed to solidify. Gradually, the kid came to his senses and immediately grabbed at his arm. 

“Give me more healing potion! My arm is still broken.”

“No, [Lord] Vicker. We need to get you to a healer so we can set the arm before healing potion is applied. Just lay back, we’ll need to carry you.”

The [Lord] began to gather his senses and quickly looked around himself.

“What are you all just standing here for! Chase those goblins down and retrieve my armor.”

“[Lord] Vicker, we’re not going to be able to chase them down. We won’t be able to find them in this forest.”

"I don't care, chase them, and find them!" 

Sir Belmont sighed and sent the ten mounted units out to scout for the goblins. He ordered a stretcher to be crafted for the [Lord] and they soon were marching back for Vicker. Later that day, five of the mounted units returned to the group. They had caught up to some of the goblins, but they had been overwhelmed and lost half of their group. They also hadn't seen any sign of the missing armor. The man cast some nasty glances at the younger Vicker, but nobody said anything. 

The trip back to Vicker was slow. Any time the [Lord] was jostled or bumped he cursed the men who carried him and threatened their livelihood or lives depending on his mood. Still, the next day they made it to the main road into Vicker, and the going got a bit smoother. On the bright side, Vicker's paid seemed to banish Greg from his thoughts, so he no longer had to deal with any abuse or tirades so long as he stayed out to the boy's eyesight. It took three days, but Greg breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the city of Vicker come into view in the distance. He was ready to sit down in the inn and order a drink. He was even more prepared to be parted from the [Lord] who was directing his anger everywhere now. 

The soldiers marched into town carrying the young man, and Sir Belmont walked back next to Greg. 

"You do not need to follow us to the palace. I think it would be best if you stayed in town for a couple of days as you may be summoned to meet with the [Grand Lord]. I plan to inform him of your role in saving his son's life. I have a feeling your talents will interest him, and he should be grateful for your service." 

Greg informed the man that he would stay in town and that he could find him at the inn. With that, he parted with the soldiers. He wasn't exactly excited about another opportunity to meet the [Grand Lord] considering his first meeting but decided it was far more dangerous to snub the man. He walked into the inn and found that the Wild Hunt, as well as Joel and Mat, were already there. They had piled up all the goods they had produced; the pelts, knives, and some ore, into the cart and brought it into town. They had sold those goods, determined the appropriate amount of taxes to pay on that income, and paid that to the [Grand Lord's] steward. They told him their journey to the city had not been eventful and asked Greg about his travels. He gave them a rundown of the events that had transpired. They were equally appalled at the young [Lord] and also amazed and frightened that goblins were a thing. They decided that they would need to ask around to find how just how much of a threat those creatures were in the area. Given that roughly a hundred of them had attacked another village, they would need to reconsider what effective defense of their village would entail. They talked, ate, and drank until the moon was high in the sky, and the innkeeper was yawning before they retired to their rooms and fell asleep. 

The next morning the [Grand Lord's] steward was again in the inn summoning Greg to an audience with his liege. The presence of the rest of Greg's group was not requested. He followed the pompous man to the palace and was ushered to the same room that he had met the [Grand Lord] previously. He found the man standing by the fireplace and his son again sitting on the couch. Also in the room, Sir Beltham stood to the side of the older Vicker. 

“Yes, you. I have been informed that you bear some responsibility for saving my son's life. His efforts in repelling the attack may have been foolhardy. However, I trust that you will extol the honor and bravery of my son in his single-handed charge against the attacking goblins, correct?" 

With that comment, the boy's face turned red and sour, but the [Grand Lord] just stood with his piercing gaze on Greg. He was clearly waiting for Greg to affirm the bald-faced lie. Greg wasn't about to contradict him. 

"Yes, my Lord. I am only grateful I was able to come in time to assist your son in driving off the goblins. I should also mention that it was Sir Belmont, who was instrumental in defense of your son's position. Your soldiers also did your lordship proud in defense of Eel's Bend." 

“Yes, I’m sure. I have also been informed of your… unique contribution to the battle. Golemancy is rare here on Izril. Tell me, how have you come to learn this magic?”

"As we said previously, my Lord, we are not originally from this continent. I, um, learned the spells I have for golemancy from an old mage on Terrandria." 

“Hmm. Very well. Given your contribution and talents, Sir Beltham has seen fit to convince me to offer you a position within my army. I'm not entirely convinced but should you give me your oath I would be willing to accept it. You should consider this an honor." 

Greg was now worried. He wanted no part in being part of this man's army. Especially after seeing what they could be ordered to do against its own people. He didn't want to answer to the [Grand Lord] and especially to the man's son who he had no respect for. Still, if he declined, he worried that he would anger this man and put his new town and companions in danger. He also had no desire to be a soldier in the first place. Even if he respected the men, he would report to. He decided to try a diplomatic decline. 

"My Lord, I am indeed honored by your choice to allow me into your illustrious army. However, I feel I should tell you I would make a poor soldier and a poor member of your army. I feel I would be of much greater use to you administering to our new village. We hope to soon have it prosperous and will provide a healthy tax income to you.”

“You see father, I told you this man would be too cowardly to do his duty. His village refused me the taxes that are our due and now refuses you the duty of serving the army. He is nothing more than an up-jumped peasant who knows nothing of honor, duty, or bravery.”

Greg only just held back a laugh of incredulity. This little brat who tried to flee a village being attacked just three days ago was trying to say this about him? Sir Beltham also gave the boy a dark look. The [Grand Lord] just gave the boy an annoyed glance. Greg had a feeling he had received the true story from Beltham but was just going with his son’s story to save face. 

“Yes, I can see I may have received an overestimated report of your bravery. So be it, slink back to your village. Know that the paltry sum I received yesterday will not suffice. Get your village in order and get me my taxes. Also, know that due to your cowardice you should not expect the soldiers of Vicker to come to your aid should you be attacked by goblins." 

That last threat rang kind of hollow to Greg considering that the soldiers had not been sent out to protect Eel's Bend. Instead, they had happened to be there and were, in fact, looting the town when the goblins had attacked. No, he didn't expect Vicker to help them should they need it but I did wonder what exactly his taxes were paying for. He did not voice that thought out loud, though. 

Greg was then dismissed from the [Grand Lord's] presence when the man ordered his steward to remove him. Vicker did not speak to him again. Greg was escorted out of the palace and abandoned on the street with haste. He made his way back to the inn to meet up with the rest of his group. He was ready to get back to the village and get to work. They had a lot to prepare for if goblins were going to be a threat in the region. When he got to the inn, he found his friends sitting around a table playing cards. Greg relayed the conversation he had with Vicker to his companions. He did so quietly so that nobody from the city would overhear and report back to the [Grand Lord]. The group decided to back up and head back home, all except for the Wild Hunt that is. They decided, along with Kelly, to stay in the city to see if they could pick up any contracts from the adventurers guild. So Greg, Mat, Joel, and two laborers packed up the wagon, bid the Wild Hunt good luck and made their way out of town.


	7. Chapter 7

7

Greg walked off with the [Lord] Vicker and his soldiers. The rest of the group was left behind to deal with getting their goods to market. They all agreed it was best to follow the instructions of Sir Beltham and get to Vicker with haste. Kelly was silently fuming over the attitude of the [Lord] but thought it best to abstain from aggravating the most powerful family in the area. She sat with the Wild Hunt as Elizabeth lead the laborers in getting the pelts and knives loaded up on the wagon. After some discussion with Joel, she also instructed them to load up some of the iron ore that had been mined. Within the hour the cart was loaded and ready to depart for Vicker. Mary volunteered the Wild Hunt to escort the wagon and Joel and Mat also elected to come. As they were heading out, Jesse came running out of the bunker with a sheet of paper in hand. 

“While you’re in town can you re-stock our supplies of food? We’re running low on a few items.”

Joel agreed and took the list that Jesse provided. He looked it over and looked back up to Jesse.

“This is a lot of stuff. Can we afford it?”

“I’m hoping you can. We have thirty people to feed here. That’s not going to be cheap. It might be a good idea to get some seed and see if you can recruit any farmers as well. That’ll cut down our costs quite a bit.”

“We’ll see what we can do. I’m still not sure how much we’re going to pull in from this one load.”

“Take most of what we have left from the sale of your armor. We need to get these fields planted as soon as possible.”

"Fair enough. Hopefully, we'll have enough." 

Soon everyone was packed up and ready to head out. The trip back to Vicker was relatively uneventful. They did come across one night lion, but the Wild Hunt was now very accomplished at taking them down. It just meant more money for them at the adventurers guild. The two-day journey had them roll into Vicker in the early afternoon. They made their way to the inn and rented three rooms from the innkeeper. They sat down to rest for a bit and soon, a discussion on what to do next began. It was quickly decided to take the wagon first to the adventurers guild as the various trophies they had collected had set prices, and there was no negotiation necessary. They could get that out of the way quickly. That did bring up the potentially thorny issue of who would get the profit of selling the trophies when Mary began calculating how much they would receive. 

“It looks like all told, what we have on the wagon should bring us 15 gold coins from everything we’ve got. That’s what? Fifteen times more than we’ve ever earned as a team? We’re rich!”

At this Mat stepped in.

“I believe the Wild Hunt is already under contract. The proceeds from those trophies should rightfully be coming to our village.”

Vinnik stood from his chair and pointed a claw at Mat.

"Typical human. The Wild Hunt risk our lives collecting these trophies, and now you insist that the gains should go to you who sit back and do nothing." 

"Do nothing except pay for your services and give you your gear. I seem to recall you were in rags with a rusted spear just a few weeks ago. Could you have done this without our help? Without Kelly's help in particular?" 

"Still, the risk was ours, the reward should be ours as well. I will not sit idly by while you steal our hard-fought gains!" 

Mary was nodding along with Vinnik.

“You paid us to clear the area around your village. The proceeds from what we cleared were never part of the contract. Those trophies are ours.”

“Then you owe us rent on the armor and weapons. Those were also not part of the contract. Let’s say you owe us 15 gold so far.”

Vinnik was absolutely outraged now.

"That's highway robbery! If you act like thieves, don't be surprised when I treat you like thieves!" 

He reached for his spear. Mat stood, and a glow started to form on his staff. Suddenly there was a bang and a bright flash. Force barriers pushed all of the Wild Hunt as well as Joel and Mat to their chairs where sticky webs fastened them to their seats. More sticky webs formed over everyone's mouths. Kelly was now the only one standing. She glared at everyone at the table only then noticing she had the attention of everyone in the inn. Her face grew bright red. She quickly sat back down and quietly talked to the group.

“I…. I think there is a mutual benefit to our all working together. Mat, we need the Wild Hunt. We need their protection. We need them protecting our town. Mary, your team was probably days away from breaking up before we came to town. We've paid you and outfitted you." She now looked at everyone at the table. "More than that, as we all level the benefits of our working together will only increase. As our village grows, we could build a whole lodge for the Wild Hunt. A place for you to operate out of, store your loot, rest, and recuperate. You are also sitting across the table from someone who has the tools and resources to become a high level [blacksmith] and another to become a high level [enchanter]. Forget diving into a dangerous dungeon in the hope of finding some legendary gear. They will be able to forge it for you. If the Wild Hunt keeps leveling and we can create good gear for them, we may be able to become a gold rank team. Do you think anyone wants to mess with a village under the protection of a gold rank team? We're all better off together than separate so let's quit viewing ourselves as two different teams and just be one team." 

With that, Kelly dispelled the webs and force barriers and sat down. As the anger drained from her face, she started to become embarrassed. She focused on her hands 

“Ahem… I mean, if that’s what you all think to, that’s what I think.”

Mat stared at Kelly, absolutely shocked. 

"Wow, Kelly… You just whooped all six of us at once in two seconds flat. Also, that's more than I've heard you say in the past two months combined! What you said makes sense, though." 

Mary started laughing hysterically. Vinnik still looked angry, but Seth and Senlut were grinning. Finally, Mary was able to choke back her laughter enough to speak. 

"I agree there's some sense in what you're saying. I also noticed you threw a “we” in there when talking about the Wild Hunt. I take it that means you want to be a full member of the team?” 

Kelly gave a quick look at Mary then looked back down and nodded.

“Then, Wild Hunt, I’ve got two votes for you. First, do you want Kelly to be a member of the Wild Hunt?”

Four hands raised.

"That's that then. Welcome to the team, Kelly. Next, we've probably got some details to iron out but do we want to throw our lot in with the rest of the village leaders?" 

This time only three hands raised. Vinnik sat with his arms crossed against his chest, glaring daggers at Mat. 

"Let it go Vinnik. We'll make plenty of money combined with these strange folks. If we play this right, you'll have a hoard to make a dragon envious." 

Vinnik harrumphed but raised his hand. 

Joel smiled and looked around at everyone.

“Innkeeper! A round of drinks for the newly formed… um, I guess we should have a name for the combined group right? For that matter, we've never gotten around to naming the village either." 

“The Umbrella Corp.” Mat said excitedly.

“I think we’ll get sued for that.”

“By who? Okay, okay. What about the White Company? They were a mercenary company back in old-time Italy." 

“What is Italy?” Mary asked.

“Um… Not important, but what do you think about the name?"   
There was a round of shrugs, and everyone raised their hand to vote for it.

Joel got a contemplative look when they started debating the village name. 

"I just had a thought, there may be other's um, like us here. What if we named our village that referenced home. That way if someone hears about it, they may come to us. Something like New Washington." 

Joel looked at Mary and the rest of the Wild Hunt.

“Have you ever heard of the name Washington?”

“No, should we have? Is that some hero from Terrandria?”

“Uh, something like that.”

In the end, they all agreed New Washington was a good enough name for the village. With that, they finished their drinks and made their way down to the adventurers guild. They sold their trophies and collected their rewards. The next stop was the market where they brought the wagon loaded down with the knives and ore. Over the four weeks, Joel had produced 120 knives, 20 of them iron. They all had the durability enchantment from Mat except for the one that was still glowing. Joel walked up to Alumt's booth and greeted him. 

“Good afternoon, Almut. You told me you were able to sell those knives pretty easily. I'm hoping you would be willing to buy all of these?" 

He gestured to the wagon, and Almut walked over to inspect the goods. 

"My, you've certainly been a busy pair you and Mat. I won't be able to offload those in Vicker, but there is a traveling merchant in town. They're always willing to buy useful items like these. I can give you 10 gold for the bronze knives and another three for the iron. I'll warn you, though. If you come back in another four weeks with another load of knives, I'll have trouble offloading them." 

“You’ve got a deal for this load. I was actually going to ask you about that. You seem to have knowledge of the market. What should I be making that can sell around here?”

“I'm not sure if you're up to the task, but the cities [Armorer] just recently retired. There are a couple of [blacksmiths] that are picking up the slack of supplying Vicker's army, but one is more focused on general goods; nails, horseshoes, axes, and the like. The other has all of his skills in making weapons, and he says it takes him to long to produce substandard armor. If you focus on that, you should be able to sell them to the [Grand Lord]. You may also get into his good graces by supplying him with something he needs. You'll need to be able to work steel though. The army won't want bronze armor. Although if you can make steel armor and have Mat here enchant it, they will pay amply for it." 

"Thanks, Almut! We'll see what we can do. We'll make sure we can supply you with some as thanks for the help. Oh, yea, we really haven't had to deal with this yet, but do you know what portion of this we will owe to Vicker?”

Almut sighed, and a somewhat angry look came across his face for the first time Joel had ever seen. 

"We just had a raise in taxes a few months ago. We now owe 40 percent of our profit to the city. I'm not normally a discontent by I don't see what the [Grand Lord] is doing with all this money. We got along fine for years with the lower taxes we had before. The guilds protested, but he overruled us." 

They all said goodbye to Almut and made their way back to the inn 28 gold richer on the day (They’d deal with the taxes tomorrow). Kelly still had a pretty fuzzy understanding of the economics in this world but felt that it was a pretty good return for their work, especially given the mood of the Wild Hunt. She stayed mostly quiet as the group drank and ate to their fortune. The inn didn't have all that many people in it. So in a fit of generosity, Mat had ordered a round of drinks for everyone at the bar. They got a round of cheers, and one younger guy came over to thank them. 

“Hey, thanks for the drink. Hey Mary, haven’t seen you around recently. What’s the good news that has you all in a good enough mood to buy us all drinks.”

Mary got up and hugged the young man.

"Hey, Yuri. We're just celebrating some recent success for the Wild Hunt and the White Company. We managed to pull in a decent profit today, so we're drinking to our fortune!" 

“That's good news! I'm glad your team is finally pulling in some money. I wish I could say the same. Pretty soon Dad and I aren't going to have a copper to our names." 

“What? Your dad is probably the highest level farmer in the area, and I'm pretty sure you're no slouch yourself. Having your levels and being so close to Vicker should mean a healthy profit for you two." 

“It did until a couple of months ago. Then the younger Vicker decided that he needed half of our fields to raise some horses. Horses he still hasn’t brought in by the way. He told us that the fields were now his and they do own the fields so we can’t really argue that. My dad didn’t take it very well and had some choice words for the young [Lord]. That went about as well as you would expect so the [Grand Lord raised our taxes to an impossible level. So now we have half the fields we used to and have to pay higher taxes on what we can grow.”

“If you don’t mind my asking what were the taxes you were paying and what are you paying now?” Joel cut in.

“Well, we did owe 70 percent of the harvest to the [Grand Lord] but since dad made him angry his making us give him 90 percent. I don't know how he expects us to feed ourselves with only ten percent of our harvest from only half of the fields we used to have. Dad's saying we'll need to leave soon, but I don't know where we'll go. Maybe somewhere east. Some Elderman will probably have some space for us to farm somewhere." 

“About that. We, the White Company, have recently founded a town to the west of here. We have a couple of farmhouses built and plenty of land to farm. If you and your dad are as high level as Mary indicates we’d consider ourselves lucky to have you as the first farmers of our village. If you know anyone else that would be interested we’d welcome them too.”

“Really? That’s amazing, but west of here? I’ve heard goblins are getting more and more dangerous around here and west of here there isn’t anything to keep their numbers down. Nobody knows how many clans are out there.”

“We haven't had any problems with goblins, but we do have the Wild Hunt patrolling the area. We just formed an agreement with them so they'll be sticking around long term." 

“I'll talk to my dad about it. Stop by our farm on your way out of town, and we'll have an answer for you. Also, my buddy, Bently, might be interested. He just got married, but he's the fourth son so his father can't promise him any land of his own. He may jump at the opportunity. I'll talk to him tonight. Also, if you're interested in livestock, you'll need to work with the Penderstones. They have branches of their family farming livestock in pretty much every village in the area. They mostly have the market cornered. If my dad wants to do this, he can probably work with them. My mom was a Penderstone, and they still like my dad." 

Speaking for the group, Joel agreed that sounded like a good plan. They decided to meet at Yuri's farm in a couple of days to talk with his father. With that, Yuri called it a night and left the inn. The group continued the celebration as they may have earned a good amount of money for the day and solved their farmer problem for the village. All in all, that was a pretty successful day. Eventually, they had enough and went to bed themselves. 

The next morning, after breakfast, Joel and Mat went to sell the ore they had left. They found the blacksmith and got two gold for the whole load. Next, they went to the palace to pay off the [Grand Lord]. After speaking to several people, they were eventually directed to a small separate building that operated as the city's tax office. After declaring their income and some questioning, they were asses eight gold and eight silver as their tax. There didn't seem to be any room for negotiation with the taciturn tax officer, so they paid and left.

Meanwhile, the Wild Hunt went to the adventurers guild to see if there were any contracts that they could take. The city of Vicker didn't have much in the way of adventuring teams. In fact, the Wild Hunt was one of only two teams currently based in the city. There were a few others that roamed around and sometimes made it to the city, but that was it. As a result, not many people posted contracts for the guild to give out. There were standard bounties for various monsters, which is what most teams in the area focused on. Sometimes there were contracts for bandit groups that came up, but the White Company had already fulfilled that one. There was, in fact, only one contract posted to the board when the Wild Hunt visited the guild. A traveling merchant, worried about the goblins and other monsters in the area, had an escort contract to the nearest city to the east. The pay wasn't high, only sixteen silver, but it was all that was available. Vinnik and Seth didn't think it was worthwhile, but Mary argued that if they took the contract, they could also spend the time hunting. Any trophies they gathered would just add to that income and probably outstrip what they got from the contract itself. In the end, Mary was the leader of the group, so they took the deal. They met with the merchant who was very grateful for their help and told them he was planning on leaving in three days. 

The next day was mostly spent lazing about the inn. Kelly and Mat spent most of the day studying the spellbooks they always had with them. Joel wandered the city a bit, chatted with Almut and both of the [blacksmiths] in the town, and hung out with the Wild Hunt. The next day was the day that Greg arrived into town with the soldiers and [Lord] Vicker. They heard his story of the atrocious actions of the younger Vicker and were all appalled. While angry, the members of the Wild Hunt were not particularly surprised. The stories of the young [Lord] had been going around since he was just a small child. They talked about some of those stories but did admit this is the first they heard about him attacking his own citizens. They also pointed out that he was still young, so he hadn't had his won authority for very long, so if this was how he was starting, they didn't like how things were headed. 

The next day Greg, Joel, and Mat, as well as the laborers, were planning on heading back to New Washington (Greg liked the name). The Wild Hunt followed the rest to the edge of town to meet with Yuri and his father. When they got there, there was Yuri, his father, a young man with a woman next to him, and another middle-aged husband and wife with two young children. Mary and Greg went up to meet the gathered people while the rest hung back. Yuri was the first to speak. 

“Hi Mary, this is my father Yemli, this is Bently who I mentioned and his wife, and this is Markus Penderstone with his family. You've definitely got our interest, but we need to know the terms before we come to any agreement." 

“Hey Yuri, this is Greg. His group and the Wild Hunt have combined forces and formed the White Company. We’re kind of acting like a collective Elderman for New Washington.”

Greg shook everyone's hands and introduced the rest of the group. After that, they got down to what amounted to haggling. They confirmed that the Wild Hunt would be around most of the time to provide protection for the village and they would also offer weapons to the families to protect themselves. If any more substantial threats did occur, Greg assured them that they would spare no expense to preserve the village even if that meant hiring mercenaries to deal with goblin clans. Greg promised each family their own house, noting that only two were completed at that moment, but they'd prioritize getting the third built soon. Next, came the taxes that they would owe to the village. Greg had been informed by Joel that the standard tax rate for the area farmers was 70 percent of the harvest. In order to entice these farmers to come to an unproven village, they had agreed to offer them a 60 percent tax rate. After that, all three families were much more willing to sign on. Being the only "Elderman" in the area to be lowering taxes seemed to endear them to the working families. They all agreed to accompany the group back to New Washington. Within a couple of hours, each family had several of their own wagons loaded with their belongings as well as supplies to get a farm started. Along with the wagons came a group of pigs and cows accompanying the Penderstones. 

The Wild Hunt spent their remaining time in Vicker preparing to escort the merchant. They were already stocked up on healing potions from the bunker in New Washington, so they focused on getting more food and camping gear. Soon it was time for them to depart. They met the merchant at the edge of town and set out. The merchant whose name was Matrid had his new partner with him. The partner looked like a teenager or in his early twenties named Yamid. He had met Yamid six months previously hawking goods on the streets of the city they were heading to. Matrid had seen the talent and drive in the young man and taken the boy under his wing. Matrid talked at length on their trade route which had them do a circuit around the western parts of the human-controlled land on Izril. The farthest east they got was Invrisil which was where Matrid was based out of. Without much prompting, Matrid began to give his history. 

“Aye, I used to run a much larger outfit. Rather than the two wagons, we have here I used to own more than twenty. That was back before my old partner died. I'll admit he was much better with the buying and selling than I am. I was the finances and logistics side of the organization while he focused on the goods. It's been hard times since then. I hope that the talents and skills of Yamid will help with that side of the business and we'll be back to our former glory in a short time." 

Kelly, being ignorant of the business and the area was interested in Matrid’s business.

“Is it dangerous to travel these roads? I know you’ve hired us but wouldn’t it be cheaper to have your own people to protect you full time if you need it? It just seems expensive and risky to try to hire adventurers in every city you stop at.”

“Aye, it’s really only this far west that the roads become truly dangerous. We had a team escort us out here at a discount as they were headed in this direction anyway. Apparently, there’s contracts up in Invrisil to come out here to suppress the goblin population. Probably has something to do with the Goblin Lord that’s in the news.”

At this, Mary got a surprised look on her face. 

“Goblin Lord, out here? I haven’t heard anything about it. I’d have heard if there was one around here. The army would be all over it as well.”

"Oh no, he's not out here. He's down south in Drake lands. Still, when one of those pops up, it tends to rile up all the goblins. I don't know how they get news across the continent, but from what I heard in Vicker, Goblins from out west in the wildlands have been popping up more frequently in human lands. I assume you all heard about the attack on Eel’s Bend?”

“So is the Goblin Lord expected to come up north or something? Why would Invrisil care about a Goblin Lord in the south? They’ve also never cared about all the tribes spread out in the wildlands. Neither has First Landing for that matter.”

“The goblins smashed two Drake armies down south, and he's currently marching north. Nobody knows where he's going, but it seems like everyone's preparing. All the lords and cities are buying up weapons and armor which has driven prices up. I was hoping I could get some at lower prices out here, but even the [Grand Lord] is buying up everything he can. It doesn't help that the [Armorer] just retired. I was able to buy these knives though so it wasn't an entirely wasted trip." 

“Hey, our friends made those knives. He's going to start making armor now, so next time you're out this way, we should be able to sell you some." 

“Really? Can they make enchanted armor like these knives? If so I'll buy everything you can sell me. I'll pay a hefty sum too. With the way, the [Lords] are buying stuff the demand seems inexhaustible. Adventurers are buying up everything they can get to because of the new dungeon." 

“What new dungeon?” Mary asked. “Is it around here? Is it big? Something we should look into?”

“Ha, I forget you westerners are the last to hear about anything. It's down near Liscor. From what I've heard, it is big, but I'm not sure you all should chase after it. It sounds pretty dangerous to me. Not that you adventurers are a sane lot in general. Apparently, some huge monster wiped out several silver rank teams and attacked the city itself." 

“Eh, we just made an agreement to stick around New Washington, so I doubt we'll be haring off after some killer dungeon." 

The rest of their escort mission went by without too much trouble. Senlut did see signs of a small band of goblins that had crossed their path, but it was most likely days ahead of them from what she saw in their trail. They did manage to do quite a bit of monster hunting while they were traveling. They would be able to pull in a healthy sum when they got back home. 

During their fights and also in their downtime, Kelly worked on adjusting the sizes and shapes of her force barriers. She also worked on moving those barriers around once she had the cast. She really thought if she could manage that she would be able to use these force constructs as both defensive and offensive spells. In one fight against some feral hogs, she managed to pick up a boar with her barrier and throw it into a tree. In another row, she hit a wolf with a moving barrier so hard she broke its neck. Over the five days, the trip took she was nearly always casting one force construct or another. She used them to carry her partners, to bash trees, and to throw rocks. By the time of her last fight before they reached their destination, she had managed to create a force construct that had a sharp edge to it. She also made one that came to a point at the end. In that battle, she was able to punch a hole clean through the beast they were fighting with the pointy construct. 

They finally made to their destination city, Mount Finney, at the foothills of the mountains leading to the high passes. When they got there, Matrid let them know he would be back by Vicker in a little over a month. He was going to cut First Landing out of his route as it was too far out of the way. There was also too much money in the southern human lands due to the Goblin Lord. With the promise of getting enchanted armor from the White Company, he was looking forward to making it back out to them as soon as he could. Kelly let him know that in addition to selling the armor, the company would be willing to trade for a significant amount of pipe. He told them he could get wagon loads of that in Invrisil so he would absolutely be ready to trade for the armor. He mentioned that he was worried about the increased goblin activity in the west so he might need to do some routes in the east until he could find an escort. When he mentioned, this Kelly picked up two small sticks from the ground and cast a spell on both of them. She handed one to Matrid. 

“When you're six days out from Mount Finney break this stick in half. That will also break this stick. If you're willing to pay for the escort, we'll come to meet you here." 

“That sounds like a good plan, young miss. I'll be sure to do that." 

With that, they parted ways, and the Wild Hunt made their way back home. The group continued their hunting and Kelly continued practicing using her force spells as an offensive weapon. By the end of the journey, the group was sore and tired, and Kelly was sure she could be truly dangerous using her modified force spells. They met the rest of the White Company in New Washington and enjoyed a fabulous meal prepared by Jesse, and they all got proper drunk to celebrate the completion of their trip.


	8. Back In New Washington

8

Greg - Golemancer – Level 7  
• [Skill – Sturdy Creations]  
• [Skill – Metal Constructs]  
• [Skill – Autonomous Constructs]

Joel - Blacksmith level 6  
• [Skill – Sharp Blades]  
• [Skill – Fast Production]

Jesse - Cook Level 9  
• [Skill – Basic cooking]  
• [Skill – Quick Preparation]  
• [Skill – Delicious Concoctions]

Mat - Enchanter Level 6  
• [Skill – Enhanced Enchantments]

Kelly - Mage Level 9  
• [Unique skill – Magical Prodigy]  
• [Unique skill – Endless Mana]  
• [Skill – Force Spell Adept]

\--------

Elizabeth had been busy while the others were away. Luckily they had the third farmhouse finished by the time Greg, Mat, and Joel showed up with three families in tow. The [miners] had dug up a significant amount of clay, and the [stonemasons] were busy turning it into bricks. They had the main square mostly paved with bricks already and hoped to have a paved road running out to the farmhouses soon. They were also finished with constructing the storage building near the downtown. It was currently being used to temporarily store all of the seed that the farmers had brought into town. Construction had been put on hold for the keep as Elizabeth thought it was more important to get the village buildings set up since they now actually had villagers. Greg walked up just as Elizabeth was finishing a meeting with the [builders], [carpenters, and [stonemasons]. She gave them their instructions for the day and smiled as Greg approached. 

“You and your people have done good work here. I can't believe how fast production works here. Where I'm from, we'd still be working on getting building permits on the first building, but you've already got three houses and a warehouse done." 

“We've got some hard workers here. Everyone is just glad to be getting levels so fast here. If we were still in Vicker, we'd be doing the occasional small job for our masters and spending most of our time just twiddling our thumbs. Now we spend all day every day working on our classes." 

“Well. I’m glad this is all working out. We’d be lost here without you. Let us know if you need anything!”

“Actually, we could use some of your golems if you can spare them.”

Greg summoned two rock golems on the spot.

“Sure, no problem. Here you go!”

Elizabeth thanked Greg and got back to work. She was currently reworking her plans for what was to be the town gathering place. She had initially envisioned just a simple hall that the village could gather at to have parties or to conduct town business. Now, however, she thought that this village would be far more substantial than even these strange newcomers had initially envisioned. The town already had a steady source of income before anyone had shown up. Soon the fields would be planted, and with three farming families, food would be plentiful. Greg's golems could provide cheap labor that added to the building resources for Elizabeth's crew. All of this led to an affordable place to live for the average villager. She had a feeling that soon people from all over the western territories would be flocking to this place. All of this was to say that a glorified barn would not be a suitable building for what could soon graduate from a village to a legitimate town. In fact, she was re-planning all of the buildings that would go in around the square. These would all be brick buildings, and what was the gathering hall was now a much more substantial building. With a grand room and several other smaller rooms, it could serve multiple purposes. She also started drawing up a town hall that could handle the administrative tasks of the town. It had multiple floors and many rooms. There was also a courtroom where the town elderman or his representative could hear from the public or give out rulings on criminal or other legal matters. The inn would also need to be re-drawn. This town would need a proper inn, one with many rooms for travelers and guests as well as a substantial bar. It would also need a stage for musicians to play on. 

Drawing up the buildings took up most of the day and when she was done with those she moved on to some houses that would be on the streets nearest to the town square. A town the size of one she was envisioning would have many other people other than farmers and fishers like the other villages around the area. They would also have artisans and merchants who would demand a higher standard of housing than what she had built for the farmers. If Joel and Mat could come through with this indoor plumbing they were talking about these houses would truly be a sight to see. 

Elizabeth was excited about this opportunity. Not only was she leveling up with everything she was working on, but this whole town would bear her fingerprint. She had been dreaming up buildings like these since she was a child and now she was designing an entire town's worth of them. It was also a bit of a nerve-wracking task. If she got things wrong or if her buildings turned out to be ugly, they would be there for all to see for years. That's why she was working so hard on this. Every time she leveled, she thought of new things that the town would need or adjustments to the buildings that would make them slightly better. She had drawn up designs for these same buildings every day for the past week. She spent the early mornings giving out directions to the crew, then spent the rest of the day re-working her drawings. Then she spent her evenings studying the books down in the bunker. Those books had taught her more than her master had in the past three years. Still, every day she would have some changes she wanted to make to the town plans or the building plans. She knew that she would need to finalize many of these plans and actually get to building them sooner or later, but she wanted everything to be perfect. She could expect nothing less from the town that would be entirely her design. 

She should also talk to Mat. She had heard of some buildings that had some impressive enchantments on them. She wanted to see if he could learn anything that would be useful in her designs. She was hoping that he could learn the preservation runes like those in Jess's cellar. Those were always in high demand. In fact, she would talk to him right then. 

“Hey Mat, got a moment? I’ve got some things I want to run by you.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

"Well, I'm re-doing some of the designs for the buildings in town — kind of obsessing over them really. Anyway, I know you have the enchanter class, and there are a lot of enchantments and runes that could be really useful in my designs. Have you learned anything like that? I know you put some on the farmhouses, but those were a bit….um….basic? No offense intended but I was really hoping we could go all out on some of these buildings. Is what I'm asking even reasonable? It's not, is it? I know a lot of these cost a fortune to get a high-level enchanter to do. Do you think you can do anything?" 

Mat laughed.

“I’ve read about all kinds of fancy enchantments. I want to do every one of them but to be honest with you, right now I can’t do any of them. I don’t even have the runecrafting skill yet.”

Elizabeth looked downcast, but Mat cut her off before she could give up on her dreams of a town of magical houses. 

“Tell you what. Even though I can’t create any of these runes yet I have read about a lot of them. We can talk through what I've read and see what we would want in your perfect town. Then we can talk about what the space, and material requirements these runes would entail. Then maybe you could design your buildings with these runes in the plan, and I can put them in when I'm able." 

The two began to talk through all of the different runes and enchantments that could be used. Preservation, protection, temperature control, rooms of holding, color-changing walls, there were many runes that Mat had read about. He walked Elizabeth through all of the runes he knew and what was necessary to create them. What kinds of rooms they would require, where he would need to put them, and the materials required to create them. 

“Do we have any of these materials? I know we have a lot of stuff in the bunker but do we have all of this?”

“We have a lot of it. The rest we could probably buy without too much trouble. Other than the cost that is. I really have no idea how much some of this would cost.”

Mat promised to get to work on learning the runecrafting skill. Meanwhile, Elizabeth got back to work, incorporating what she had learned from Mat into her designs. She would still need to figure out how much all of this would cost before she finalized anything. She might as well make multiple designs that would use all, or only some of the enchantments to have various cost options. 

Greg had a lot he wanted to work on. He had gained two new skills that he hadn't been able to try out yet. Metal golems were indeed interesting. He didn't think they would be more useful in work around the village as the stone golems were plenty strong enough to do the job. Still, in a battle iron or steel golems seemed like a substantial step up. The autonomous construct skill was much more interesting. He had done some reading on the subject. He could now create as many golems as he wanted, assuming he had the right materials. His existing golems depended on his mana pool to keep themselves together. These autonomous golems could use an internal magic source to keep themselves going. There were significant differences in how they were crafted, though. He couldn't just magic one up out of a pile of stone and have it be the dimensions he wanted. He needed to actually carve and chisel the style he wanted out of a large rock; then he would need to insert a mana crystal into the golem. The mana crystal would have the instructions for the golems actions and behavior. He couldn't have them farm one day, then fight in a battle the next. Each golem he created this way would need to have specific instructions to do a particular job. He would also need to use the right kind of mana crystal for the job. The golem could also hold more directions and be more "intelligent" the stronger the crystal that was used. 

He started by playing around with the metal golems. He went back to the supply room and grabbed a bunch of metal bars. He created one and set it against three stone golems to see how it would do. He was expecting a similar step up from the clay golem and was surprised when the stone golems thrashed the metal one. It didn't seem that much more resistant than any one stone creation. It appeared the problem was that the magic holding the bars together wasn't any stronger than the magic holding the stones together. The bars themselves were undamaged, but a forceful hit would break up the golem just like any other. He had a feeling though that this problem would change if he used metal to make an autonomous construct. For those, he would probably need Joel to make a full metal golem that was one piece. That would not have the problem of being held together with magic as it would be only one piece. 

He decided to move on to creating his first autonomous golem. To do that he would need a mana crystal and he would need to get the golem carved out of stone. He went back to the storage room where he had seen a wide array of crystals. He looked through his options there. There was a wide array of types and sizes available. He was opening crates containing piles of crystals but was shocked when he found a container that contained huge crystals. Some were larger than his head. He decided he didn't need anything that substantial for his first trial. He thought that the most useful golems in the near term would be helpful for the farmers. He picked out some small crystals of the appropriate variety then headed off to find Elizabeth. He found her working in the library. 

“Hey Elizabeth, you think I borrow one of your [stonemasons] for a couple of days?”

“Um, Hey Greg, they’ve been pretty busy recently making bricks for the village. I’d hate to pull them off of that. What do you need?”

“Well, I need one to craft me a golem.”

“Isn’t that your thing?

“Ha, yea, but I need his help for these types of golem I'm creating. I can't just pull them together from a loose pile of stone. They need to be crafted out of a solid rock which I can then animate." 

“So what’s the advantage? Are they more powerful or something?”

“These would be fully autonomous golems. They can perform tasks and respond to direction so long as the direction is within their instructions. Also, they don’t depend on my mana pool so I can create as many as we need. So long as we have the materials.”

“Really, that could be pretty useful. Now I’m picturing this town being entirely populated with golems pretty soon.”  
“Ha, nothing like that. Right now I’ll only be able to give them pretty simple instructions. I’m thinking I could make some that could help the farmers plow fields and pull weeds for the time being.”

“Well, I'm interested now. I can spare Fordham for now. I'll warn you though, he may be able to create some nice bricks, but none of us have that many levels, and he's certainly not an artist yet." 

“I don't need anything fancy. Just roughly man-shaped and with opposable thumbs." 

“I think he should be able to handle that. He's down by the pond. You should find him and talk him through what you're looking for. Tell him you have my blessing to work on this." 

“Thanks, Elizabeth!" 

Greg found Fordham and gave him an overview of what he was looking for. Fordham was worried that he would be able to craft functional hands but assured Greg he would do his best. 

Next, Greg went out to Yemli’s farm to see what tasks would be useful to have the golems do. He found Yemli in his field following a horse pulling a plow. Yemli was muttering about all of the stones he was turning over in the field compared to his previous lands. Those were worked for generations. 

“Hey Yemli, you have a moment? I’m hoping I can help you out.”

"I'll always welcome help, but I'll be honest. You don't have the look of a farmer, so I'm not sure what work I can give you here. I think you'll be best off focusing elsewhere." 

Greg laughed. "I'm not here to farm myself. I'm working on a golem that could help you out with some simple tasks, but I'm not sure what would be most helpful. I could make one that could pull weeds for you if that would help." 

“Weeds in my fields, not a chance. I’m a level thirty farmer, Greg, I have a skill that prevents weeds and pests from killing my plants.”

Yemli looked around and sighed. "I'll tell you, though. I could use some help plowing these fields. This land has never been worked before, and there are stones all over the place. At this rate it'll be a month before we can even begin planting." 

“So something that can pull a plow and carry away stones from the field? I think I could manage that. How many do you think you would need?”

"Well, between my fields, my son's and Bently's I think ten would get us a head-start assuming they can work around the clock. After that, the main time constraint will be actually planting the crops. I can usually hire out some help in sowing the fields, but I'm noticing a lack of population around here. If those same golems could help us with the planting that would save us a lot of time." 

“Ten golems may be a bit hard to make in short order. I think I can program them with the tasks you've asked for, but I don't know how fast we'll be able to create them. I have Fordham crafting the first one now, and we'll see how long it takes for him to finish." 

It turned out that it took about a day’s work for Fordham to create basically a rough stone statue of a person. There was little artistry in his work on the first golem. It was roughly the shape of a human with arms, legs, a lump of stone on top somewhat resembling a head, and a small cavity in its chest to hold a mana stone. The most detail went into the hands of the creation. They were still rough, but they did have the same shape of a hand with a thumb so Greg thought it would be good enough for the tasks he assigned to it. Greg thanked Fordham for his work and tasked him in creating as many as he could. He would apologize to Elizabeth for requisitioning one of her workers later. He figured she would be more accepting if he could compensate her with some permanent golems of her own. He summoned a couple of simple golems to help him carry Fordham’s creation down to his workplace and got to work animating it. 

Greg pulled out a simple mana stone which he believed would be able to hold the instructions for the simple tasks he needed it to do. He set the stone into the golem and began pouring his mana into it. While he was activating it, he focused his thoughts on the tasks he wanted the golem to do. The whole task took about a half of an hour, and when finished, he had an animated stone statue following him around. He led the golem to Yemli and told it to follow his instructions. With that task done, Greg decided to rest, recover his mana, and wait for Fordham to finish more statues for him to animate. 

While Greg was working on animating golems Joel got to work on his first set of armor. His levels in blacksmith had instilled in him a knowledge of how to create a basic helm, cuirass, pauldron, vambrace, cuisse, and greave. He knew these would be nothing fancy, or near the quality of the armor they already had in storage. However, they would provide good protection to the average soldier, and he believed he could make them with high enough quality to sell them to Vicker, particularly if he could get Mat to enchant them. He didn't know much about this world, but he had a hunch most armies did not have even weakly enchanted armor for most of its soldiers. He decided he wouldn't bother Mat until he had created one unenchanted set and proved he could create workable armor. It turned out that making armor was a bit simpler than creating blades. There was more pounding the metal into shape, but it took less re-heating, and there was no grinding an edge necessary. Still, since he was inexperienced, it took him two full days to finish his first set. Once finished, Joel had to admit that the armor wouldn't be winning any beauty contests, but he was still satisfied with his work. While not something that would meet the image of a knight in gleaming armor, it would be serviceable armor for a soldier. The work had also gained him two more levels in blacksmithing which made his work on the next set even faster. Three days later, he made his first set of armor out of steel and deemed the work good enough to sell. For his next set, he got Mat to enchant the armor as he finished each piece. As Mat was still not able to craft runes into the armor, he just placed a basic durability enhancement on them. The enchantment wasn't strong, but it would still provide an extra bit of protection for the person wearing it. Within the week Joel and Mat were pumping out two sets of enchanted armor every day. Not only did the work bring the promise of future income for the White Company and New Washington, but it also helped Joel and Mat both level up to level ten in [blacksmith] and [enchanter] respectively. 

Once Mat reached level ten in [enchanter] all of the reading he had been doing in runecrafting suddenly began to make sense to him. Before then, it had mostly just lead to headaches. This new knowledge opened up a whole new world for him in enchanting. Without runes, it was impossible for anything to hold stronger or more complex enchantments. He could now put stronger protections on armor, alter its weight, or put different effects on it. He could also create many of the enchantments that Elizabeth asked about for the buildings in the town. He believed he could make a serviceable preservation rune, and with some work, he could make a rune that would make the interiors of buildings have a stable temperature. He was excited about that one as it was getting hot out and he desperately missed air conditioning. He also realized he could make a rune that could pump water which would help significantly in their plans to give the town plumbing. Unfortunately, the runes for bags, and rooms of holding, or any dimensional runes were still well outside of his ability.

Another problem was that these runes required resources as he couldn't just draw them out with a pencil. The runes required specific magical powders and other materials to work. A trip around the supply room revealed that many of these materials were already on hand, but certainly not an unlimited amount. Mat decided that while putting more powerful runes on the armor that Joel was making would undoubtedly increase the value, it would also quickly burn through his stockpile. He even doubted that the [Grand Lord] would compensate them enough to offset the cost of the rune's materials. Actually, he doubted they would get fair market value on the armor they were already creating. He decided he would begin his work on enchanting with runes the three farmhouses already built. He would add runes of preservation to the pantries in each house as well as make a temperature stabilization rune in the living room of each house. The problem with the temperature rune was that it couldn't change the temperature of a room. It could just keep the current temperature once it was set. Unfortunately, it was terribly hot at the moment and showed no signs of cooling down any time soon. It was still warmer than Mat was comfortable with in the dead of night. He needed a way to cool these rooms down before setting these runes. He knew there were spells that he could use, like creating a big block of ice in the place to cool it down, but he didn't know any of these spells. He decided to wait for Kelly to return as she was something of a magical savant and if anyone could do it she could. He gathered his gear to create runes of preservation and started at Yemli's house. 

 

When he got there, Yemli was out in the field overseeing the several golems pulling plows around and hauling rocks. Yemli's wife, Meridor, was in the house though. While she was a bit put out when Mat informed her that she would need to empty the pantry, she was quite excited when Mat told her what he was planning. 

"A preservation rune in my pantry? Oh, you don't need to do that! I wouldn't want to put you out, and it's not like a humble farmer and his wife could even pay you for this anyway. It's not like I'm running a fancy restaurant or I'm some kind of noble. I’ve heard those runes cost hundreds of gold and there’s no way we could ever justify spending that much.”

“This is free of charge. It's good practice for me, and we're trying to make this a good place to live for everybody, not just the rich. Besides, the rune I'll be putting in isn't perfect. It won't keep food indefinitely, but it should be good enough to keep a cooked meal fresh for several months." 

“Oh well, I'm not going to try to dissuade you any further. If you want to do this, let me get the pantry cleared. We'll make this up to you somehow." 

After a day of work, Mat was able to create the rune then enchant it. He didn't know how to test the rune other than putting food in and wait. Still, he believed he had gotten it right. He instructed Meridor on where the runes in the room were and not to scratch or scuff them. 

The next few days he completed the same enchantments in Bently's and the Penderstone's house. After he was done with that, he was treated to a wonderful feast created by the three families. They had spent a full day cooking a huge number of different meals and let Mat have his choice of what he wanted to eat out of everything they had prepared. Once he had eaten his fill and the rest were similarly fed the remaining food was piled into the three pantries for future consumption. 

Later that week, the Wild Hunt returned from their escort contract. The group told the others about their trip on got updates on the happenings in New Washington over an excellent meal prepared by Jesse and copious drinks.

The next day the Wild Hunt was given a tour of the town by Elizabeth which still wasn't much of a journey. The main square was completed, even with Fordham being conscripted by Greg. The streets, while not completed, were making their way out of the square and had almost made it to the farmhouses. They had also broken ground on the Inn and had the skeleton of the building completed. They got a walkthrough of the farmhouses in which Mat detailed his problem with the temperature rune with Kelly. She told him she could cast an ice spell to cool the rooms down for Mat to be able to create his runes. Once the tour was finished, Mat and Kelly got to work. 

They decided to make this new adjustment to the farmhouses a surprise by politely kicking the farmers out of their houses until they could complete the runes. Kelly started the process by casting an ice spell in the middle of the Penderstone living room. It began as a small chunk of ice floating in the middle of the room, and the ice continued to grow as she poured more mana into it. She also cast a small wind spell to spread the cool air around the room. 

“Just tell me when it's cool enough, and I'll get rid of the ice." 

Mat was finishing the rune while she was cooling the room. Once he was ready and they determined the place was cool enough, he told her to get rid of the ice. He next started pouring his mana into the rune until he felt it activate. After he was done, Mat smiled and sat down on the couch that the Penderstones had brought with them. 

“Ahhh… Air conditioning. Tell me you haven’t missed this.”

"It's not bad in the bunker since it's underground, but I'll admit. I haven't been actually cool in I don't know how long. Do you think they'll be mad if we just move in here?" 

“Ha! Once Elizabeth gets the inn finished we’ll all have a place to cool down. I also figured out a way to pump water so if we can get pipes to the inn just think. A shower and a cool room to drink in! It’ll be like we never left home.”

“Home…. It feels like we’ve already been here a lifetime. I’ve almost forgotten about all of the creature comforts. Still, I'd kill for a shower." 

“Well, time to finish this in the other houses?”

The two completed the same steps in the living rooms of the other two farmhouses, then invited the farmers into Yemli’s house.

The families were hiding from the heat in the shade of a tree near Yemli’s house and didn’t immediately realize what the two had done when they first entered the house. After a moment it dawned on Yemli what was different.

“What is this! The summer heat is gone! I’ve never even heard of something like this. Even the [Grand Lord] would be jealous!”

The farmers offered their profuse appreciation for the magical marvel that Mat had provided them. Mat and Kelly promised more wonders to come then headed back to the bunker to sleep.


End file.
